Ans 1: Fundamental building gates used for digital design are:

AND, OR and NOT gates.

(a). AND GATE: For a AND gate, the output Y is true if BOTH input A “AND” input B are both
true, giving Boolean Expression of: (Y = A.B)

Symbol Truth Table

AND Gate A B Y

0 0 0

0 1 0

1 0 0

1 1 1

Boolean Expression Y=A.B Read as A AND B gives Y

(b). OR GATE: For a OR gate, the output Y is true if EITHER input A “OR” input B is true, giving
the Boolean Expression of: (Y = A+B)

Symbol Truth Table

A B Y ˉˉˉĀĀ
OR Gate
0 0 0

0 1 1

1 0 1

1 1 1

Boolean Expression Y=A+B Read as A OR B gives Y

(c). NOT GATE: For a NOT gate, the output Y is ONLY true when the input is “NOT” true, the
output is the inverse or complement of the input giving the Boolean Expression of: (X = NOT
A or Ā).

Symbol Truth Table

A X

0 1

1 0

Boolean Expression X = NOT A or Ā Read as Inversion of A gives X

Ans. 2: Universal gates used for digital design are:

NAND and NOR gates.
They are called universal gates because by using them only, we can create any Boolean
functions and equivalent gates.
(a). NAND GATE: The NAND (Not – AND) gate has an output that is normally at logic level “1”
and only goes “0” when ALL of its inputs are at logic level “1”. It is the reverse form of the
AND gate.

Symbol Truth Table

A B Y
NAND Gate
0 0 1

0 1 1

1 0 1

1 1 0

Boolean Expression Y = ᴀ̅.в

̅ ̅ Read as A AND B gives NOT-Y
(b). NOR Gate: The logic or Boolean expression given for NOR gate is that for Logical
Multiplication which it performs on the complements of the inputs. Its Boolean expression is
denoted by a plus sign, (+) with a Overline over the expression to signify the NOT of the NOR
gate giving us the Boolean Expression of: (A+B = Z̅).

Symbol Truth Table

NOR Gate A B Z

0 0 1

0 1 0

1 0 0

1 1 0

Boolean Expression Z = ᴀ̅+̅в̅ Read as A OR B given NOT-Z