Electrical Engineering 1

Lecture 1: The Adder Circuit

Overview
· So far we have assumed sensors produce 1-bit yes/no outputs
· Many sensors will produce an output that is a binary number
· We will look at circuits that perform arithmetic on binary
numbers
Addition
· “Normal” base 10 addition
· Columns represent 1s, 10s, 100s, etc.
· Add columns together to get answer
· If answer in one column becomes greater than 9, we
generate a carry into the next column
100s 10s 1s

105 234
+213 +167
318 401
11
Binary Addition
· Columns represent 1s, 2s, 4s, 8s etc.
· Add columns together to get answer
· If answer in one column becomes greater than 1, we
generate a carry into the next column

8s 4s 2s 1s

1010 0001
+0001 +0011
1011 0100
11
Design of Adder Circuit
· As a simple example, let’s look at a 4-bit adder
· One input number is called A, one called B
· Device has 8 inputs, 4 outputs
· Too many inputs for K-map if we solve in one go
· Real adders would be likely to use many more than 4 bits

A3 A2 A1 A0 0001
+ B3 B2 B1 B0 +0011
Q3 Q 2 Q 1 Q 0 0100
11
Iterative Design of Adder Circuit
· An iterative design consists of many copies of simple
circuit
· We only need to design a 1-bit adder
· Then connect four copies

A3 A2 A1 A0 0001
+ B3 B2 B1 B0 +0011
Q3 Q 2 Q 1 Q 0 0100
11
The 1-bit Adder Circuit
· The 1-bit adder has
 Inputs: A, B, CIN
 Outputs Q, COUT

Zoom in on a
single bit position
A3 A2 A1 A0
+ B3 B2 B1 B0
Q3 Q 2 Q 1 Q 0
COUT CIN
The 1-bit Adder Circuit
· The 1-bit adder has 0+0+0=0, carry 0
 Inputs: A, B, CIN 0+0+1=1, carry 0
0+1+1=0, carry 1
 Outputs Q, COUT 1+1+1=1, carry 1
· Q=1 when odd number of inputs is 1
· COUT=1 when majority of inputs is 1
Inputs Outputs
A B CIN Q COUT
A3 A2 A1 A0 0 0 0 0 0
+ B3 B2 B1 B0 0 0 1 1 0
0 1 0 1 0
Q3 Q 2 Q 1 Q 0 0 1 1 0 1
COUT CIN 1 0 0 1 0
1 0 1 0 1
1 1 0 0 1
1 1 1 1 1
The 1-bit Adder Circuit
· The COUT output

𝐴.𝐵 Inputs Outputs

AB A B CIN Q COUT
CIN 00 01 11 10
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 1 0
0 0 1 1 0
0 1 0 1 0
1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1
𝐴 .𝐶 𝐼𝑁 1 0 0 1 0
𝐵 . 𝐶 𝐼𝑁 1 0 1 0 1
1 1 0 0 1
1 1 1 1 1
The 1-bit Adder Circuit
· The COUT output

· The Q output

Inputs Outputs
AB A B CIN Q COUT
CIN 00 01 11 10
0 1
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1
0 0 1 1 0
0 1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1
1 0 0 1 0
1 0 1 0 1
1 1 0 0 1
1 1 1 1 1
The Full Adder Circuit
· The COUT output

· The Q output

A Q=SUM
B
CIN
COUT

· This circuit is called the full adder

· (“Full” because it takes account of carry inputs)
The Parallel Adder
· To make an n-bit adder, chain n full adders together
· COUT from one stage feeds CIN for the next

B 3 A3 B 2 A2 B 1 A1 B 0 A0
CIN=0
B A CIN B A CIN B A CIN B A CIN
Full Adder Full Adder Full Adder Full Adder
COUT SUM COUT SUM COUT SUM COUT SUM

Q3 Q2 Q1 Q0
 The Parallel Adder
0001 A
+0011 B
0100 Q
00 1 1 CIN/COUT

B 3 A3 B 2 A2 B 1 A1 B 0 A0
0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 CIN=0
B A CIN B A CIN B A CIN B A CIN
Full Adder Full Adder Full Adder Full Adder
0 1 1
COUT SUM COUT SUM COUT SUM COUT SUM
0 0 1 0 0
Q3 Q2 Q1 Q0
Arithmetic with a fixed number of bits
· When we build an arithmetic circuit, we have to choose a
fixed number of bits and stick with it
· Imposes a limit on the size of numbers that can be
represented
· e.g. 4-bits can represent 24=16 different numbers
Binary Numbering Schemes
· Different number schemes are possible
· The one we have been using so far is called “unsigned
binary” or “pure binary”
· Later on we’ll see some different schemes where some of
the available bit patterns are used for negative numbers
 The Pure Binary Numbering Scheme
· Unsigned binary/Pure binary:
· (1111)2 is interpreted as 1×8 + 1×4 + 1×2 + 1×1 = (15)10
· (0001)2 is interpreted as 0×8 + 0×4 + 0×2 + 1×1 = (1)10
· 4-bits can represent all numbers from 0 to 15
· What happens when we run out of bits?
· What is result of 15+1 in a 4-bit adder?
Number Pure binary representation Number Pure binary representation
0 0000 8 1000
1 0001 9 1001
2 0010 10 1010
3 0011 11 1011
4 0100 12 1100
5 0101 13 1101
6 0110 14 1110
7 0111 15 1111
 Adder Overflow
· What is result of 15+1 in a 4-bit adder?
0001 A
+1111 B
0000 Q
1 1 1 1 CIN/COUT
B 3 A3 B 2 A2 B 1 A1 B 0 A0
1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 CIN=0
B A CIN B A CIN B A CIN B A CIN
Full Adder Full Adder Full Adder Full Adder
1 1 1
COUT SUM COUT SUM COUT SUM COUT SUM
1 0 0 0 0
Q3 Q2 Q1 Q0
 Adder Overflow
· What is result of 15+1 in a 4-bit adder?
· 15+1 = 0
· The adder has overflowed
· Answer can’t be represented in 4-bits
· How do we detect this? Look at final COUT
B 3 A3 B 2 A2 B 1 A1 B 0 A0
1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 CIN=0
B A CIN B A CIN B A CIN B A CIN
Full Adder Full Adder Full Adder Full Adder
COUT SUM COUT SUM COUT SUM COUT SUM
1 0 0 0 0
Q3 Q2 Q1 Q0
 Adder Overflow
· What is result of 15+1 in a 4-bit adder?
· 15+1 = 0
· The adder has overflowed.
· Answer can’t be represented in 4-bits
· How do we detect this? Look at final COUT
B 3 A3 B 2 A2 B 1 A1 B 0 A0
CIN=0
0verflow status flag:
B A CIN B A CIN B A C B A CIN
0 means result is OKIN
Full Adder
1 Full
meansAdder
resultFull
isAdder
wrong Full Adder
COUT SUM COUT SUM COUT SUM COUT SUM
1
Q3 Q2 Q1 Q0
Summary
· Most useful systems require arithmetic
· Fundamental circuit is adder
· Adder is repeated copies of 1-bit full-adder
· Fixed size of circuit means that overflow can occur:
 Answer is too big to represent in available bits

· Adder circuits can output a status bit that shows whether

the answer is reliable or not