Standard Boolean model

Boolean Retrieval ( after George Boole ) is a simple form of information retrieval, are in the words of a query using Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) linked.

The documents in an information retrieval system with the Boolean retrieval are mapped during indexing on simple sets of words ( index terms ). This means there is no weighting of index terms, as is the case for example in the vector space retrieval. In a query, all documents are returned that contain a combination of words searched.

A ranking of the result set does not occur. Boolean retrieval is relatively easy to implement and has already been applied in the 1950s with the Uniterm system. However, the search requires the user knowledge of the search terms, which is why the method in conjunction with a controlled indexing and / or in conjunction with suitable user interfaces is rather applied (for example drill down ).

Many search engines with sophisticated retrieval methods offer an additional Boolean operators.

Extensions of the Boolean retrieval are the fuzzy retrieval and the Extended Boolean retrieval.

• Information Retrieval
• Documentation