Boolean Algebra and Logic Gates

Boolean Algebra
Boolean Algebra is the algebra of logic that deals with binary variables and logic operations.
There are various terminologies and concepts involved in the study of Boolean algebra.

Boolean Variable: A Boolean variable is a symbol, usually an alphabet used to represent a

logical quantity. It can have a 0 or 1 value.

Truth table: is a table which represents all the possible values of logical variables along
with all the possible results of the given combinations of values.

Boolean Operators: These are the operators that work on Boolean variables or literals.
AND, OR and NOT operators are known as Boolean operators. These operators when
applied to the variables result in a true or false.

AND operator: The AND is a binary operation that requires two variables as input. The
output of the AND operation is true only if both inputs are TRUE. It is represented by the .
(dot) operator . The truth table for the AND operator is given below. A and B are the input
variables.

A B A.B
0 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1

OR operator: The ORis a binary operation that requires two variables as input. The output
of the OR operation is true if any or all of the inputs are TRUE. It is represented by the
+ (plus) operator . The truth table for the AND operator is given below. A and B are the
input variables.

A B A+B
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 1
NOT operator: The NOT operator is a unary operator that requires one variables as input.
It negates or complements a variable. It is represented by the ‘ (dash) operator .
The truth table for the OR operator is given below. Here A is the input variables.

A A'
0 1
1 0

Boolean expressions and Truth Tables

Boolean expressions are made up of Boolean variables and operators. We can use the and(.),
or(+) and not (` ) operators in combination with Boolean variable to form various boolean
expressions.

Truth Tables
Boolean expressions can be represented in a graphical form using truth tables. A truth
table is used to represent graphically represent a boolean function. All the possible values
that can be assigned to a boolean variables are listed and evaluated by applying requisite
Boolean operations using a truth table.

Examples of Boolean expressions:

Some examples are:
 ’

’ ’
0

Some more Examples:

1. Represent the following Boolean Function using a Truth Table:

F= A.B.C’+A’B’C’
A B C A’ B’ C’ A.B.C’ A’.B’.C’ A.B.C’+A’B’C’
0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1
0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1
1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

2. Prove the following using Truth Table:

(A+B)(A+C)= A+(BC)

A B C A+B A+C (A+B)(A+C) BC A+(BC)

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1
1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1
1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Form the above we can see that the two columns which represent the right hand side and
the left hand side of the function give the same output, hence the expression is proved.

Logic Gates
Logic gates are the basic building blocks of a digital system. It is basically an electronic
circuit having one or more inputs and generates an output. The relationship between the
input and the output is based on a certain logic. There are three basic logic gates known
as AND gate, OR gate, NOT gate .

And gate
The AND gate gives a high output (1) only if all its inputs are high.
Circuit Diagram Truth Table

A B A.B
0 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1
OR Gate
The OR gate gives a high output (1) if one or more of its inputs are high.

Circuit Diagram Truth Table

A B A+B
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 1

NOT gate

The NOT gate produces an inverted version of the input as its output. It is also known as
a logical inverter. If the input variable is A, the inverted output is known as NOT A or A’

Circuit Diagram Truth Table

A A'
0 1
1 0

NAND gate

This is an AND gate followed by a NOT gate. The outputs of all NAND gates are high if
any of the inputs are low. If both inputs are high, output is low. The symbol is an AND
gate with a small circle on the output.
 Circuit Diagram Truth Table

A B (A.B)’
0 0 1
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0

NOR gate

This is a NOT-OR gate which is equal to an OR gate followed by a NOT gate. The outputs
of all NOR gates are low if any of the inputs are high.The symbol is an OR gate with a
small circle on the output.

Circuit Diagram Truth Table

A B (A+B)’
0 0 1
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 0

XOR gate

The 'Exclusive-OR' gate is a circuit which will give a high output if either, but not both,
of its two inputs are high. An encircled plus sign ( ) is used to show the EOR operation.

Circuit Diagram Truth Table

 A B A + B
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0

The NAND and NOR gates are called universal gates since with either one the AND and
OR functions and NOT can be generated.

Using Logic gates to draw circuit diagrams

Logic gates can be used to represent circuit diagrams corresponding to a given Boolean
expression. We may use any of the above given gates to draw the diagram. For example:

The boolean expression,

Z=A’. (A+B )+ (A+ B)

Corresponds to the following logic circuit:

Another Example would be to deduce the Boolean expression corresponding to a given logic
circuit.

Write the equivalent Boolean Expression for the following Logic Circuit.
 Answer : We can write the equivalent expression for each step i.e. the output of each gate
beefore combining and arriving at the conclusive answer:

A.B

A.B+(B+C).(B.C)
B+C

(B+C).(B.C)

B.C

So the answer is : A.B+(B+C).(B.C)

De Morgan’s Laws

These are the fundamental laws of Boolean Algebra.

Theorem 1. States that when two (or more) input variables are AND’ed and negated, they
are equivalent to the OR of the complements of the individual variables.

(A+B)’=A’.B’

Truth Table
A B (A+B) A’ B’ (A+B)’ A’.B’
0 0 0 1 1 1 1
0 1 1 1 0 0 0
1 0 1 0 1 0 0
1 1 1 0 0 0 0

Theorem 2. States that when two (or more) input variables are OR’ed and negated, they are
equivalent to the AND of the complements of the individual variables.

(A.B)’=A’ + B’

The arrows in both the cases indicate that the columns corresponding to the LHS and RHS
of the equations match. Thus the theorems are proved.