KCSL

Boolean Search – AND, OR, NOT, and NEAR

Myth

Since users are arguably the most intelligent part of the search process, some think that giving users greater control of the process, through Boolean search options, will yield better search results. Thus, many systems allow users to select values, based largely on Boolean logic, which put stringent demands on any document returned in the search results list. Typically these demands contain, in various combinations, some or all of the following criteria: (i) returned documents must contain the words (AND); (ii) returned documents can contain any of the words (OR); (iii) returned documents cannot contain the words (NOT); and (iv) returned documents must contain the words within close proximity of one another (NEAR).

Fact

While the user is the most intelligent part of the search process, the user only knows his/her question; the user cannot possibly comprehend what�s really available to him/her amongst thousands, if not millions, of documents. Thus, UniFind™ Technology is better able to determine how best to analyze, interpret, and present the documents. For instance, instead of the user trying to decide whether a word is important enough to justify using an AND as opposed to an OR, UniFind, instead of being confined to stringent Boolean rules, calculates the frequency of the word in the collection of documents, and then determines the dynamic weight for that word.

Boolean logic also inherently requires that users must know the answer words to their queries, since it is these answer words that will be searched for. However, if users knew the answers, they wouldn�t be asking the questions. UniFind�s use of Natural Language questions does not require the use of the exact answer words in order to find the most relevant documents, since UniFind has numerous rich Natural Language query words that will find the relevant documents, even in the absence of specific key words.

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