Why Boole and not Babbage?

I don't think there's a reason for this based on who the mathematicians actually are, or what they did. This was to help to develop the relationship between the characters.

When Christian says

Boole. Obviously.

and Justine replies

Silly of me.

it's suggesting to the audience that they know each other so well that it shouldn't have even been a choice. Justine should have just known which option Christian would pick, which is why he's surprised when she asks the question.

It is also intended to be humorous. The point is that it isn't obvious to the audience, and there is no reason for it to be.

From what I can ascertain from George Boole's and Charles Babbage's upbringing, George Boole was a math prodigy while in the case of Charles Babbage, while he was highly intelligent, he had childhood friends, indicating he was able to socialize.

In looking at internet pictures of George Boole and Charles Babbage, none of George Boole's pictures ever have him looking at the viewer, where Charles Babbage has one or two of him peering back at the artist or viewer.

In the movie, Agent Medina is told that those with autism don't look at their audience, but avert their eyes, like in the photos of Lewis Carroll. Therefore George Boole would have the markers of autism, over Charles Babbage. Hence Christian Wolfe's comment, "Boole, of course" and Justine's comment,

Silly of me

That's just my guess.

Having not seen the movie, I can only speculate. But looking at their histories, although Babbage was a very smart person, and he did some foundational work on programmable computers, he didn't ultimately get his machines built in his lifetime. Boole, on the other hand, laid an even deeper foundation for computing than Babbage. Today, to make Babbage's ideas work, we use Boole's system of algebra. At least, that's how it seems to me.

I know this is an old thread but i have two guesses. The first is that Boolean (named after Boole) is true or false, on or off, which can also be interpreted as black and white which is how Wolff's character thinks. He's very mathematical like a computer's ones and zeros, like a Boolean, the foundation of computers and programming which Wolff and Justine have an affinity towards.

I also came across some information in an article i found that may explain Wolff's preference for Boole (https://georgeboole200.ucc.ie/boole/legacy/computerscience/). It mentions that his father taught him things (like Wolff's father) and Boole was close to his wife, Mary -- also a mathematician, who understood him (like Justine). And, finally, the article says the following about Boole and mentions a quote by him that seems to sum Wolff and his accounting skills up perfectly:

It should be noted that Boole had ideal skills for tackling information storage and retrieval. He had a remarkable memory, and credited this to his ability to categorise information:

"The power of arrangement, which provides its proper place in the mind for every fact and idea, and thus enables me to find at once what I want, just as you would know in a well-ordered set of drawers where to lay your hand in a moment upon any article you required"

That's my take :)

Btw, I was just watching the movie for the third time and wondered the same thing which is how i found this thread :)

Not math, but something of a Hollywood in-joke.

“Charles Babbage” is very similar to “Charles Babbitt,” the character played by Tom Cruise in “Rain Man,” also starring Dustin Hoffman as Charlie’s brother Raymond who like Chris the Accountant lived with autism.

Hoffman’s portrayal including the memorable line “Charlie Babbitt made a joke” would probably make using the name Charles Babbage distasteful for a person with Chris’ high-functioning autism. We saw Chris as a child learn to defend himself against hazing for his dis/ability. “You’re different,” said his father. “Different scares people.”

The choice between Boole and Babbage wasn’t explained but in itself wasn’t essential to the story. Babbage’s name was only brought up in the script for Ben Affleck / Chris to reject it - “obviously.” Justine picked up the thread right away - “silly of me.”

Earlier in the movie when Christian gets removed from the task he was contracted to perform and discusses with Dana about the person possibly responsible for the missing amount, Dana asks "why would they do that", to which Christian replies "it is very difficult for me to understand the why behind other people actions".

Similarly, I think it is impossible for us to understand the logic that is ruling Christian mind. It is able to crunch great amounts of numbers and see meaning in it, while for other people it only looks like meaningless random mathematical symbols.
Choosing Boole as the next identity has its own very important meaning and logic for Christian ; however this logic is too complex for everyone else to understand.

When Christian assistant replies "silly of me" for not having guessed right, it is ironic. Of course nobody can predict what exactly happens in the mind of the genius , even after having worked together for many years.

Forgive me, I don't mean to be rude -- but I think this question has yet to be answered. There's something about Boole that would make him the "obvious" next choice over Babbage, but I think it's something that only a math pro would know -- perhaps on the basis of knowing that Wolfe's current pseud is "Lou Carroll," and that he'd previously gone by "Carl Gauss," and seeing something in the pattern suggested thereby. My guess might have been chronological, but that doesn't work at all, as both Boole and Babbage predate Dodgson/Carroll.

I have a couple different thoughts. The first is the simpler, more straightforward one - Justine presents him with only two possible choices. That situation of choosing between only two possible options is, obviously, Boolean logic. Hence his response “Obviously”, and Justine’s then realizing it and replying with “Silly me.”

The second thought is more involved - Christian’s thinking is very ordered, structured, logical, nothing is random.

Justine presents him with only two possible options in the queue - to pick one, Christian has to place them in some sort of proper and logical order to be able to choose. Boolean logic would be the foundation that Babbage’s computer machine would centrally operate around. Hence Babbage’s work is a derivative of Boole’s work. Without Boolean logic, there would be no computer theory. Boole therefore comes before Babbage, given only those two options. Again, to Christian (remember we are never told his actual name during the entire movie), this would be an immediate and obvious thought. Justine, being a computer genius/hacker, would be familiar with both (she is probably the one who came up with the idea in the first place and researched the names for the list; Christian doesn’t seem to be that creative but the idea would appeal to him once presented by Justine) and by now she has a solid grasp of how Christian’s mind works.

Of course, we could ask the writers, I suppose.