Prepared by Eng.

Javier Daza
November 2, 2021 Email: jdazap@libertadores.edu.co

Guide No. 4: BOOLEAN ALGEBRA

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this guide you should:

• Be able to use AND, OR and NOT gates
• Be able to use combinatorial and switching circuits
• Understand equivalente circuits
• Understand the laws of Boolean algebra
• Be able to simplify Boolean expressions
• Understand Boolean functions
• Be able to minimise circuits

THEORETICAL FOUNDATION 1 - Boolean Algebra

In mathematics and mathematical logic,
Boolean algebra is the branch of algebra in which
the values of the variables are the truth values true
and false, usually denoted 1 and 0 respectively.
Instead of elementary algebra where the values of
the variables are numbers, and the main operations
are addition and multiplication, the main operations
of
Boolean algebra are the conjunction and, denoted ∧,
the disjunction or, denoted ∨, and the negation not,
denoted ¬. It is thus a formalism for describing
logical relations in the same way that ordinary
algebra describes numeric relations.

Boolean algebra was introduced by George

Boole in his first book The Mathematical Analysis
of Logic (1847), and set forth more fully in his An

1
http://users.dcc.uchile.cl/~clgutier/Ca pitulo_3.pdf - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_algebra - http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/alevel/discrete_ch11.pdf -
http://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~ghosh/9 -26-13 .pdf
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November 2, 2021 Email: jdazap@libertadores.edu.co

Investigation of the Laws of Thought (1854). According to Huntington, the term "Boolean algebra" was
first suggested by Sheffer in 1913.

…but who was George Boole?

Born 2 November 1815, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England
Died 8 December 1864 (aged 49), Ballintemple, Cork, Ireland
Nationality British
Education Bainbridge's Commercial Academy
Era 19th-century philosophy
Region Western Philosophy
School Mathematical foundations of computing
Institutions Lincoln Mechanics' Institution Queen's College, Cork
Main interests Mathematics, Logic, Philosophy of mathematics
Notable ideas Boolean algebra. He worked in the fields of differential equations and algebraic logic, and is best known as the author
of The Laws of Thought (1854) which contains Boolean algebra. Boolean logic is credited with laying the foundations for the information age.

Boolean algebra has been fundamental in the development of digital electronics, and is
provided for in all modern programming languages. It is also used in set theory and statistics.

Whereas in elementary algebra expressions denote mainly numbers, in Boolean algebra they
denote the truth values false and true. These values are represented with the bits (or binary digits),
namely 0 and 1. They do not behave like the integers 0 and 1, for which 1 + 1 = 2, but may be
identified with the elements of the two-element field GF(2), that is, integer arithmetic modulo 2, for
which 1 + 1 = 0. Addition and multiplication then play the Boolean roles of XOR (exclusive-or) and
AND (conjunction) respectively, with disjunction x∨y (inclusive-or) definable as x + y + xy.

Boolean algebra also deals with functions which have their values in the set {0, 1}. A
sequence of bits is a commonly used such function. Another common example is the subsets of a set
E: to a subset F of E is associated the indicator function that takes the value 1 on F and 0 outside F.
The most general example is the elements of a Boolean algebra, with all of the foregoing being
instances thereof.

As with elementary algebra, the purely equational part of the theory may be developed without
considering explicit values for the variables.

LAWS OF BOOLEAN ALGEBRA

A law of Boolean algebra is an identity
such as x∨(y∨z) = (x∨y)∨z between two
Boolean terms, where a Boolean term is
defined as an expression built up from
variables and the constants 0 and 1 using the
operations ∧, ∨, and ¬. The concept can be
extended to terms involving other Boolean
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November 2, 2021 Email: jdazap@libertadores.edu.co

operations such as ⊕, →, and ≡, but such extensions are unnecessary for the purposes to wh ich th e
laws are put. Such purposes include the definition of a Boolean algebra as any model of th e Boolean
laws, and as a means for deriving new laws from old as in the derivation of x∨(y∧z) = x∨(z∧y) from
y∧z = z∧y as treated in the section on axiomatization.

ÁLGEBRA DE BOOLE
Se denomina así en honor a George Boole (2 de noviembre de 1815 a 8 de
diciembre de 1864), matemático inglés autodidacta, que fue el primero en definirla como parte de
un sistema lógico, inicialmente en un pequeño folleto: The Mathematical Analysis of Logic, pu blicado
en 1847, en respuesta a una controversia en curso entre Augustus De Morgan y sir William Rowan
Hamilton. El álgebra de Boole fue un intento de utilizar las técnicas algebraicas para tratar
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expresiones de la lógica proposicional. Actualmente, se aplica de forma generalizada en el ámbito del

diseño electrónico.

• El Álgebra de Boole es un sistema matemático que utiliza variables y operadores lógicos. Las
variables pueden valer 0 ó 1. Y las operaciones básicas son OR(+) y AND(·).

• Luego se definen las expresiones de conmutación como un número finito de variables y

constantes, relacionadas mediante los operadores (AND y OR).

• En la ausencia de paréntesis, se utilizan las mismas reglas de precedencia, que tienen los
operadores suma (OR) y multiplicación (AND) en el álgebra normal.

LEYES
En el Álgebra de Boole se cumplen las siguientes Leyes:
1. Conmutatividad: X+Y=Y+X
X·Y=Y·X
2. Asociatividad: X + (Y + Z) = (X + Y) + Z
X · (Y · Z) = (X · Y) · Z
3. Distributividad: X + (Y · Z) = (X + Y) · (X + Z)
X · (Y + Z) = (X · Y) + (X · Z)
4. Elementos Neutros (Identidad): X+0=X
X·1=X
5. Complemento: X + X´ = 1
X · X´ = 0
6. Dominación: X+1=1 X·0=0
Demostración: X + 1 = (X + 1) · 1 = (X + 1) · (X + X´)
(X + 1) · (X + X´) = X + (1 · X´) = 1
7. Idempotencia: X + X = X
X·X=X
8. Doble complemento: X´´ = X
9. Absorción: X+X·Y=X
X · (Y + X) = X
Demostración: X + X · Y = (X · 1) + (X · Y) = X · (1 + Y) = X
10. DeMorgan: A·B=A+B
A+B=A·B
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November 2, 2021 Email: jdazap@libertadores.edu.co

HOMEWORK
LEARNING ACTIVITY
I. Ejercicio 1: Demostrar los siguientes nueve teoremas básicos del álgebra Booleana:

1. A + 1 = 1
2. A • 1 = A
3. A + 0 = 0
4. A • 0 = 0
5. A + A = A
6. A • A = A
7. ā = a
8. A + A = 1
9. A • A = 0

II. EJERCICIO 2: Simplificar las siguientes expresiones:

1) A + AB
2) AB + AB
3) A(A + B)
4) (A+B)B
5) (A+B)(A+C)
6) (A+B)(A+B)
7) ABC + A·B·C + A·B·C + A·B·C
8) ABC + AC + C

OPERADORES EN EXPRESIONES DE CONMUTACIÓN:

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III. EJERCICIO 3: Desarrollar las tablas de verdad de cada uno de los operadores expuestos
anteriormente.

COMPUERTAS LÓGICAS

• Existen dispositivos electrónicos que son capaces de

representar funciones de conmutación. Estos dispositivos
denominan Compuertas Lógicas y están construidos a
base de silicio.
• Las compuertas lógicas son altamente usadas en el
campo de la electrónica digital, debido al bajo costo que
se logra con la alta densidad de integración.
• Las compuertas corresponden a bloques fundamentales para la construcción de circuitos lógicos
y sistemas digitales.
• Una red de compuertas lógicas constituye un circuito combinacional.

Ejercicio de aplicación: Las compuertas lógicas pueden tener más de una entrada. La siguiente
ecuación de conmutación F(A,B,C)=A.B.C pueden ser representada por:

IV. EJERCICIO 4: Representar la siguiente ecuación mediante compuertas lógicas.

F(A, B, C, D) = (B+D).(A+B).C

V. EJERCICIO 5: Determinar la ecuación que representan las siguientes compuertas: