STANDARD FORMS OF

BOOLEAN EXPRESSIONS

Logic Circuits and Switching Theory

Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 1

References
 Digital Fundamentals, 6th Ed., by
Thomas L. Floyd
 Digital Design, 2nd Ed., by M. Morris
Mano
 http://www.asic-world.com/digital/

Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 2

Objectives
 After discussing this topic, the students
should be able to:
 Define what minterms and maxterms are.
 Determine the domain of an expression.
 Convert any SOP or POS expression to
its canonical form.
 Derive a standard expression from a truth
table.
Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 3
Standard Forms of Boolean
Expressions
 All Boolean expressions, regardless of their
form, can be converted into either two
standard forms:
 Sum-of-Products Form (SOP)
 Product-of-Sums Form (POS)

Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 4

Sum-of-Products (SOP) Form
 Examples:
 AB + ABC
 ABC + CDE + B’CD’
 A’B + A’BC’ + AC
 A + BC
 A’B’C’ + D
 Note: An expression containing a term of the
form (ABC)’ is an invalid SOP form.

Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 5

Implementation of an SOP
Expression
 Simply requires ORing the outputs of
two or more AND gates
A
B

B X = AB + BCD + AC
C
D

A
C

Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 6

Product of Sums (POS) Form
 Examples:
 (A’ +B)(A + B’ + C)
 (A’ + B’ + C’)(C + D’ + E)(B’ + C + D)
 A’ (A + B’ + C)(B’ + C’ + D)
 (A + B)(A’ + B’ + C’)
 Note: An expression containing the
term of the form (A+B+C)’ is an invalid
POS form.
Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 7
Implementation of an POS
Expression
 Simply requires ANDing the outputs of
two or more OR gates
A
B

B X = (A + B)(B + C +D)(A + C)
C
D

A
C

Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 8

Minterms and Maxterms
 A literal is a single variable within a term
which may or may not be complemented.
 For an expression with N variables,
 A minterm is the product of N distinct literals
where each literal occurs exactly once.
 A maxterm is the sum of N distinct literals
where each literal occurs exactly once.

Reference: http://www.asic-world.com/digital/boolean2.html
Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 9
Minterms and Maxterms

X Y Minterm Maxterm

0 0 X’ · Y’ X+Y

0 1 X’ · Y X+Y’

1 0 X · Y’ X’+Y

1 1 X·Y X’+Y’
Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 10
Canonical Form: Sum of Minterms

 An SOP expression in which all

variables in the domain appear in each
product term.
 AB’CD + A’B’CD’ + ABC’D’ is a canonical
SOP expression.
 A’BC’ + AB’D + A’BC’D is not a canonical
SOP expression.

Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 11

Converting to Sum of Minterms

 An SOP expression is converted into

its canonical sum of minterms form by
using Boolean algebra Rule 6 (A + A’ =
1).

Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 12

Converting to Sum of Minterms
 Steps:
1. Multiply each product term by a term
made up of the sum of a missing variable
and its complement.
2. Repeat Step 1 until all resulting product
terms contain all variables in the domain
in either complemented or
uncomplemented form.
3. On the count of 3, shout ‘YAWAWEE!’.
Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 13
Converting to Sum of Minterms
 Example: Convert the following into its
canonical sum of minterms form:
 AB’C + A’B’ + ABC’D
 Solution:
 AB’C = AB’C(D + D’) = AB’CD + AB’CD’
 A’B’ = A’B’(C + C’) = A’B’C + A’B’C’
 A’B’C + A’B’C’ = A’B’C(D + D’) + A’B’C’(D +
D’) = A’B’CD + A’B’CD’ + A’B’C’D + A’B’C’D’
 The 3rd term is already in standard SOP.
Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 14
Converting to Sum of Minterms

 Example: Convert the following into

its canonical sum of minterms form:
 AB’C + A’B’ + ABC’D
 Answer:
 AB’CD + AB’CD’ + A’B’CD + A’B’CD’ +
A’B’C’D + A’B’C’D’ + ABC’D

Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 15

Exercise
 Convert the following into canonical
sum of minterms form:
 WX’Y + X’YZ’ + WXY’
 A’BC + A’C’D + BCD’

Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 16

Canonical Form: Product of Maxterms

 One in which all variables in the

domain appear in each sum term in
the expression.
 (A + B’ +C)(A’ + B’ + C’)(A + B’ + C’) is in
canonical form.
 (A + C)(A + B + C’)(B’ + C) is not in
canonical form.

Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 17

Converting to Product of Maxterms

 A POS expression is converted into its

canonical form by using Boolean
algebra Rule 8 (A·A’ = 0).

Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 18

Converting to Product of Maxterms

 Steps:
1. Add to each product term a term made up of a
missing variable and its complement.
2. Apply Rule 12: A + BC = (A + B)(A + C).
3. Repeat Step 1 until all resulting terms contain
all variables in the domain in either
complemented or uncomplemented form.
4. On the count of 3, shout ‘YAWAWEE!!!’.

Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 19

Converting to Product of Maxterms

 Example: Convert the following into

its canonical product of maxterms:
 (A + B’ + C)(B’ + C + D’)(A + B’ + C’ + D)
 Solution:
 A + B’ + C = A + B’ + C + DD’ =
(A+B’+C+D)(A+B’+C+D’) <- Rule 12
 B’ + C + D’ = AA’ + B’ + C + D =
(A+B’+C+D’)(A’+B’+C+D’)
Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 20
Converting to Product of Maxterms

 Example: Convert the following into

its canonical form:
 (A + B’ + C)(B’ + C + D’)(A + B’ + C’ + D)
 Answer:
 (A + B’ + C + D)(A + B’ + C + D’) +
(A + B’ + C + D’)(A’ + B’ + C + D’) +
(A + B’ + C’ + D)

Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 21

Exercise
 Convert the following into their
canonical forms:
 (A + B’)(B + C)
 (M’ + N + O)(M+N+P’)(M’+N’+O’+P’)

Standard Forms of Boolean Expressions Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 22

Determining Standard
Expressions from a Truth Table

 Determine the (a) Input OP

canonical sum of A B C X
minterms and (b) 0 0 0 0
canonical product 0 0 1 0
of maxterms 0 1 0 0
expression for the 0 1 1 1
following truth 1 0 0 1
table.
1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1
Standard Forms of Boolean
Expressions
1
Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 1 1 1 23
Determining Standard
Expressions from a Truth Table

 SOP: Input OP
 A’BC + AB’C’ + A B C X
ABC’ + ABC 0 0 0 0
 POS: 0 0 1 0
 (A+B+C) (A+B+C’) 0 1 0 0
(A+B’+C) (A’+B+C’) 0 1 1 1
1 0 0 1
1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1
Standard Forms of Boolean
Expressions
1
Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 1 1 1 24
Exercise
 Determine the (a) Input OP
standard SOP A B C X
expression and (b) 0 0 0 1
standard POS 0 0 1 0
expression for the 0 1 0 1
following truth 0 1 1 1
table. 1 0 0 0
1 0 1 1
1 1 0 1
Standard Forms of Boolean
Expressions
1
Mac Sta. Maria (c) 2008 1 1 0 25