CENG250

Chapter 3 – K-Map
Implicants & Simplification in K-Maps
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 Important Terminology
• Implicant:
• It is a product term issued from grouping 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 ones.
• In other words it is the rectangle we are drawing on the K-map
• It shouldn’t contain any zero
• Prime implicant:
• It is an implicant not fully contained by another larger implicant
• Essential prime implicant:
• It is a prime implicant that has at least one 1 not included in any other prime implicant

Essential
Prime
Implicant Prime
Implicant
Implicant
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 Important Terminology
• In the below K-map put a rectangle for all possible implicants and count them
AB 00 01 11 10
CD
00 1 1
01 1
11 1 1 1 1
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• In the same K-map put a blue rectangle for all prime implicants and red
rectangle for all essential prime implicants

AB 00 01 11 10
CD
00 1 1
01 1
11 1 1 1 1
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Exercises
• Exercise1: For the following K-map, find the prime implicants and
essential prime implicants

Prime Implicants:

AB 00 01 11 10
C
0 1 1 1
1 1
Essential Prime Implicants:

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Exercises
• Exercise2: For the following K-map, find the prime implicants and
essential prime implicants

Prime Implicants:
AB 00 01 11 10
CD
00 1 1 1 1
01 1
11 1 1 1
10 Essential Prime Implicants:

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Test Yourself
• Find the prime implicants and essential prime implicants for the
following K-maps.

AB 00 01 11 10 AB 00 01 11 10
CD CD
00 1 1 1 1 00 1
01 1 01 1 1 1
11 1 1 11 1 1 1
10 1 1 1 10 1
K-Map 1 K-Map 2

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Steps for Simplification using K-maps
• Step1: Find all prime implicants
• Step2: Find all essential prime implicants
• Step3: The simplified expression is the sum of all prime implicants found in
Step2
• Step4: Did these prime implicants cover all the ones existing in the K-map?
• Yes: We stop, and this means that we reached the most simplified expression
• No: We need to add one or more prime implicants that cover the remaining ones
while keeping in mind that the smaller number of variables/gates we add the better
simplification we have

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Exercise: Simplify the following K-maps

AB 00 01 11 10
C
0 1 1 1
1

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Exercise: Simplify the following K-maps

BC 00 01 11 10
A
0
1 1 1 1 1

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 Exercise: Simplify the following K-maps

AB 00 01 11 10
CD
00 1
01 1
11 1 1 1
10 1 1 1

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 Exercise: Simplify the following K-maps

AB 00 01 11 10
CD
00 1 1
01 1 1
11 1 1
10 1 1

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 Exercise: Simplify the following K-maps

C 0 1
AB
00
01 1
11 1
10 1 1

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 Exercise: Simplify the following K-maps

AB 00 01 11 10
CD
00 1 1 1 1
01 1
11 1 1 1
10

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 Exercise: Simplify the following K-maps

AB 00 01 11 10
CD
00 1 1 1 1
01 1
11 1
10 1 1 1

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 Exercise: Simplify the following K-maps

AB 00 01 11 10
CD
00 1 1 1 1
01 1
11 1 1
10 1 1 1

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Please send your questions related to this
lecture on google classroom

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