A true/false determining apparatus that can determine the genuineness of a material with high accuracy. Coherent light is radiated onto a surface of an object. Reflected light of the coherent light reflected by the object detecting unit is detected. A part to be used as a pattern sample from intensity distribution of the reflected light detected by the detecting unit is selected. Pattern data is generated from the intensity distribution of the reflected light in selected the part. The generated pattern data is matched against reference pattern data.
