Operators Complement of an Expression

• NOT Expressions are said to be the complement of each other if one expression equals
‘1’ only when the other equals ‘0’, and vice versa.
• OR
• AND
Variables
Variables are the different symbols in a Boolean expression.
Sample Expression

Dual of an Expression
The dual of a Boolean expression is obtained by replacing all ‘⋅’ operations with ‘+’
operations, all ‘+’ operations with ‘⋅’ operations, all 0s with 1s and all 1s with 0s
Literal and leaving all literals unchanged.
Each occurrence of a variable or its complement is called a literal.
Sample Expression

Term
A term is the expression formed by literals and operations at one level.
Postulates of Boolean Algebra
Sample Expression
The following are the important postulates of Boolean algebra:
1. 1 ⋅ 1 = 1, 0 + 0 = 0
2. 1 ⋅ 0 = 0 ⋅ 1 = 0, 0 + 1 = 1 + 0 = 1
3. 0 ⋅ 0 = 0, 1 + 1 = 1
Equivalent Expressions
4. 0’ = 1 , 1’ = 0
Two given Boolean expressions are said to be equivalent if one of them equals ‘1’
only when the other equals ‘1’ and also one equals ‘0’ only when the other equals
‘0’.
Theorems of Boolean
Theorem 10 (Absorption Law or Redundancy Law)
Algebra
Simplifying an Expression
Theorem 1 (Operations with ‘0’ and ‘1’) Theorem 11

Theorem 2 (Operations with ‘0’ and ‘1’)

Theorem 12 (Consensus Theorem)

Theorem 3 (Idempotent or Identity Laws)

Theorem 13 (De Morgan’s Theorem)

Theorem 4 (Complement Law)

Theorem 5 (Commutative Laws)

Theorem 14 (Transposition Theorem)

Theorem 6 (Associative Laws)

Theorem 15

Theorem 7 (Distributive Laws)

Theorem 16

Theorem 8

Theorem 17 (Involution Law)

Theorem 9
Other Logic Operators

16 Functions
Canonical Forms

The Σ and Π Nomenclature

Standard Forms of Expressions

• Sum-of-Products Form

• Product-of-Sums Form

Canonical Forms of Expressions

• Sum of Minterms
• Product of Maxterms
Karnaugh Map/ Veitch Diagram Four-variable Map

Simplifying Boolean Expressions

Types
• Minterm Karnaugh Map
• Maxterm Karnaugh Map
Entries to the Map
Minterm K-map Maxterm K-map
0→0 0→1
1→1 1→0
Two-variable Map

Row and Column Styles

Three-variable Map
Guidelines of Use
1. Each square containing a ‘1’ must be considered at least once, although it can
be considered as often as desired.
2. The objective should be to account for all the marked squares in the minimum
number of groups.
3. The number of squares in a group must always be a power of 2, i.e. groups can
have 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, squares.
4. Each group should be as large as possible, which means that a square should
not be accounted for by itself if it can be accounted for by a group of two squares;
a group of two squares should not be made if the involved squares can be Quad
included in a group of four squares and so on.
5. Don’t care’ entries can be used in accounting for all of 1-squares to make
optimum groups. They are marked ‘d’ in the corresponding squares. It is,
however, not necessary to account for all ‘don’t care’ entries. Only such entries
that can be used to advantage should be used.
Looping
The expression for an output of a logic circuit can be simplified by properly
combining those squares in the Karnaugh map which contain 1s. The process for
combining these 1s is called looping. The principle of simplification using loops is
based from the Theorem 8 as discussed in the earlier sections.
Pairs
Octets 5.Loop any quad that contains one or more 1s that have not already been looped,
making sure to use the minimum number of loops.
6.Loop any pair that contains one or two 1s that has not already been looped.
7.Form the sum-of-products or product- of-sums generated by the loops. The
resulting logic expression will be the simplest sum-of-products or products-of-
sums form.

Simplification Process
1. Construct the minterm or maxterm Karnaugh map.
2. Examine the map for adjacent 1s and loop those 1s which are not adjacent to
any other 1s. These are called isolated 1s.
3. Next, look for those 1s which are adjacent to only one other 1. Loop any pair
containing such a 1.
4. Loop any octet even if it contains one or more 1s that have not already been
looped, making sure to use the minimum number of loops.
Don’t Care Condition
Some logic circuits can be designed so that there are certain input conditions for
which there are no specified output levels, usually because these input conditions
will never occur. In other words, there will be certain combinations of input levels
where we “don’t care” whether the output is HIGH or LOW.
Example
Design a logic circuit that controls an elevator door in a three-story building. The
circuit in the figure has four inputs namely S, F1 , F2 and F3. The input S is a logic
signal that indicates when the elevator is stopped S = 1 or moving S = 0 . The
inputs F1, F2 and F3 are floor signals that are normally LOW and go HIGH only
when the elevator is positioned at the level of that particular floor. The circuit
output is the O signal which is normally LOW and is to go HIGH when the elevator
door is to be opened.
 6-variable K-map

Larger Maps
Quine-McCluskie Tabular Method
The construction of Karnaugh maps for a larger number of variables is a
based on the complementation theorem, which says that
complex and cumbersome exercise, although manageable up to six variables.
X ⋅ Y + X ⋅ Y’ = X and ( X + Y )⋅ (X + Y’) = X
5-variable K-map
where X represents either a variable or a term or an expression and Y is a
variable.
Process
1. The Boolean expression to be simplified is expanded if it is not in
expanded form, or a truth table may be used instead.
2. Different terms in the expression are divided into groups depending upon
the number of 1s they have. True and complemented variables in a sum-
of-products expression mean ‘1’ and ‘0’ respectively. In case of a truth
table, consider those inputs that produce a 1 in the output. The reverse is
true in the case of a product-of-sums expression. The groups are then
arranged, beginning with the least number of 1s in its included term (in
case of truth table the input). Terms within the same group are arranged
in ascending order of the decimal numbers represented by these terms.
Illustration

ABC + A’BC + AB’C’+ AB’C + A’B’C’

 Example
A+B+C 000 First Group
A+B+C 010 Second Group
A+ B + C → 100 Second Group
A + B+ C 011 Third Group
A+B+C 111 Fourth Group
3. The terms of the first group are successively matched with those in the next
adjacent higher order group to look for any possible matching and consequent
reduction. The terms are considered matched when all literals except for one
match. The pairs of matched terms are replaced with a single term where the
position of the unmatched literals is replaced with a dash (—). These new terms
formed as a result of the matching process find a place in the second table. The
terms in the first table that do not find a match are called the prime implicants
and are marked with an asterisk (∗). The matched terms are checked ( ).
4. Terms in the second group are compared with those in the third group to look
for a possible match. Again, terms in the second group that do not find a match
become the prime implicants.
5. The process continues until we reach the last group. This completes the first
round of matching. The terms resulting from the matching in the first round are
recorded in the second table.
6.The next step is to perform matching operations in the second table. While
comparing the terms for a match, it is important that a dash (—) is also treated
like any other literal, that is, the dash signs also need to match. The process
continues on to the third table, the fourth table and so on until the terms
becomes irreducible any further.
7.An optimum selection of prime implicants to account for all the original terms
constitutes the terms for the minimized expression. Although optional (also called
‘don’t care’) terms are considered for matching, they do not have to be
accounted for once prime implicants have been identified.