bookkeeping Recording of the money values of business transactions. Bookkeeping provides the information from which accounts are prepared but is distinct from accounting. Bookkeeping offers information on both the current value, or equity, of an enterprise and on its change in value (due to profit or loss) over a given time period. Managers require such information to examine the results of operations and budget for the future; investors need it to make decisions about buying or selling securities; and credit grantors use it to determine whether to grant a loan. Financial records were kept in Babylon and in ancient Greece and Rome. The double-entry method of bookkeeping began with the development of the Italian commercial republics of the 15th century. The Industrial Revolu¬ tion stimulated the spread of bookkeeping, and 20th-century taxation and government regulations made it a necessity. Two types of records con¬ tinue to be used in bookkeeping—journals and ledgers. They can be recorded by hand or entered into a computer. The journal contains daily transactions (sales, purchases, etc.), while the ledger contains the record of individual accounts. Each month an income statement and a balance sheet are posted in the ledger.
bookmaking Gambling practice of determining odds and receiving and paying off bets on the outcome of sporting events and other compe¬ titions. Horse racing is perhaps most closely associated with bookmak¬ ing, but boxing, baseball, football, basketball, and other sports have also long been of interest to bookmakers (“bookies”) and gamblers. Morning- line odds, established by legal bookmakers, are printed in the sports sec¬ tions of newspapers throughout the U.S. Illegal bookmaking operations have often been linked to organized crime. See also handicap.
bookplate Label with a printed design pasted inside the front cover of a book to identify its owner. It probably originated in Germany in the mid-15th century; the earliest extant dated bookplate (1516) is Ger¬ man. The earliest American example is dated 1749. Bookplate designs include portraits, views of libraries, and landscapes, as well as symbols of the owner’s interests or occupa¬ tion (e.g., military trophies, palettes), and, toward the end of the 19th cen¬ tury, nude figures.
Boole, George (b. Nov. 2, 1815,
Lincoln, Eng.—d. Dec. 8,1864, Ball- intemple, Ire.) British mathemati¬ cian. Though basically self-taught and lacking a university degree, in 1849 he was appointed professor of mathematics at Queen’s College in Ireland. His original and remarkable general symbolic method of logical inference is fully stated in Laws of Thought (1854). Boole argued per¬ suasively that logic should be allied with mathematics rather than with philosophy, and his two-valued alge¬ bra of logic, now called Boolean alge¬ bra, is used in telephone switching and by electronic digital computers.
Boolean algebra Symbolic sys¬ tem used for designing logic circuits and networks for digital computers. Its chief utility is in representing the truth value of statements, rather than the numeric quantities handled by ordinary algebra. It lends itself to use in the binary system employed by digital computers, since the only pos¬ sible truth values, true and false, can be represented by the binary digits 1 and 0. A circuit in computer memory can be open or closed, depending on the value assigned to it, and it is the integrated work of such circuits that
Jane Patterson's bookplate designed by Robert Anning Bell, English, 1890s
COURTESY OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON
George Boole, engraving.
COURTESY OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM; PHOTOGRAPH, J.R. FREEMAN & CO. LTD.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
250 I boomerang ► borage
give computers their computing ability. The fundamental operations of Boolean logic, often called Boolean operators, are “and,” “or,” and “not”; combinations of these make up 13 other Boolean operators.
boomerang Curved throwing stick used chiefly by the aborigines of Australia for hunting and warfare. About 12-30 in. (30-75 cm) in length, the returning boomerang varies in shape from a deep curve to almost straight sides of an angle. The ends are twisted or skewed in opposite directions. It is held at one end, above and behind the thrower’s shoul¬ der, and swung forward rapidly. Just before release, the thrower adds spin by flicking the wrist so that the stick will loop around and return to him. Returning boomerangs were used only in eastern and western Australia as playthings, in tournament competition, and by hunters to imitate hawks for driving flocks of game birds into nets. The longer, straighter, and heavier nonreturning boomerang can kill animals and even humans.
boomslang Venomous snake (. Dispholidus typus ) of the savannas of sub-Saharan Africa, the only species of its family that is decidedly dan¬ gerous to humans. When hunting, it lies in wait in a bush or tree for cha¬ meleons and birds; the forepart of the body often extends motionless into the air. The boomslang’s body and eye colours are extremely variable and provide excellent camouflage. In defense it inflates its neck, showing the dark skin between the scales, and then may strike. Its venom causes hemorrhages and can be fatal to humans in small amounts.
Boone, Daniel (b. c. Nov. 2,
1734, Berks county, Pa.—d. c. Sept.
26, 1820, St. Charles, Mo., U.S.)
U.S. frontiersman and legendary hero. He lived on the North Carolina frontier as a hunter and trapper. He made several trips through the Cumberland Gap into eastern Kentucky (1767, 1769-71) and in 1775 was employed to blaze a permanent trail, called the Wilderness Road. He established the settlements of Boones- boro and Harrodsburg. As a militia captain he defended Boonesboro against the Indians; he was captured by the Shawnee in 1778 but escaped after five months to warn Boonesboro of an impending attack. After los¬ ing his Kentucky land claims in the late 1780s, he moved to the Missouri Territory. His exploits were featured in a widely read history of Kentucky and in Lord Byron’s epic poem Don Juan.
Boorman, John (b. Jan. 18, 1933, Shepperton, Middlesex, Eng.) Brit¬ ish film director. As head of the BBC’s documentary film unit in Bristol (1962-64) he produced the acclaimed Citizen 63 series. After directing his first feature film in 1965, Boorman directed Point Blank (1967) and Hell in the Pacific (1968) in the U.S. His successful Deliverance (1972) was a harrowing tale of endurance and survival. Later films include Excal- ibur (1981) and Hope and Glory
(1987).
Booth, Edwin (Thomas) (b.
Nov. 13, 1833, near Belair, Md.,
U.S.—d. June 7, 1893, New York,
N.Y.) U.S. actor. Bom into a noted theatrical family, he played his first starring roles in Boston and New York City in 1857. He became famous as Hamlet, appearing in the role for 100 consecutive nights in 1864-65. When his brother John Wilkes Booth assassinated Pres.
Abraham Lincoln, Edwin withdrew from the stage until 1866. In 1869 he opened his own theatre, but misman¬ agement forced him to sell it in 1873.
His interpretations of Hamlet, Iago, and King Lear won great acclaim in England and Germany. He founded the Players’ Club in New York in
Booth, John Wilkes (b. May 10, 1838, near Bel Air, Md., U.S.—d. April 26, 1865, near Port Royal, Va.) U.S. actor and assassin of Pres. Abraham Lincoln. Born into a family of famous actors, he achieved suc¬ cess in Shakespearean roles but resented the greater acclaim enjoyed by his brother, Edwin Booth. A fanatical believer in slavery and the Southern cause, he made plans with co-conspirators to abduct Lincoln; after sev¬ eral failed attempts, he vowed to destroy the president and his cabinet. On April 14, 1865, he shot Lincoln during a performance at Ford’s Theatre. Though he broke his leg jumping from the president’s box, he was able to escape on horseback to a Virginia farm. Tracked down, he refused to surrender and was shot, either by a soldier or by himself.