BOOLEAN ALGEBRA

Introduction

Boolean Algebra was developed by George Boole in the year 1854. This algebra is based on two values
i.e. 0 and 1. O means OFF or FALSE or LOW and 1 means ON or TRUE or HIGH.

Boolean Variables

Boolean variable are the logical variables which can store only two values either 0 or 1.

Truth Table

A table which shows all the possible combinations of the values of Boolean variables.

Logical Operators

AND, OR and NOT are the three main logical operators.

Logic Gates

1) AND ( . ) Gate – The AND ( . ) Gate is an-all-or-nothing gate. The output is 1 (high) only if all the
inputs are 1 (high).

Truth Table

A B Y=A.B
0 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1
2) OR ( + ) Gate – The OR ( . ) Gate is any-or-all gate. The output is 1 (high) if any or all of the inputs are
1 (high).

Truth Table

A B Q=A + B
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 1

3) NOT () Gate – It is also known as inverter or reverse gate. This circuit has one input and one output.
All it does is inverts the input signal. If the input is 1(high) output is a 0 (low) and vice-versa.

Truth Table

A Q=A
0 1
1 0
4) NAND (. ) Gate – (NOT + AND = NAND) [Reverse of AND gate]

NAND gate is inverted AND gate. For all 1 (high) inputs, it produces a 0 (low) output, otherwise for any
other input combination, it produce a 1 (high).

5) NOR (+ Gate - (NOT + OR = NOR) [Reverse of OR gate]

NOR gate is inverted OR gate. If all the inputs are 0 (low) then the output signal is 1 (high). If either of
the two inputs is 1 (high) theoutput will be 0 (low).

Truth Table

A B A +B Q=A+B
0 0 0 1
0 1 1 0
1 0 1 0
1 1 1 0

6) XOR (  ) Gate – (Exclusive Or gate)

The output is 1 (high) only if both the inputs are not same.

Truth Table

A B Q=A + B
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0