Unit 3 Simplfication of Boolean Functions

Introduction of K-Map (Karnaugh Map)

Maurice Karnaugh was an American physicist, mathematician, computer scientist, and inventor
known for the Karnaugh map used in Boolean algebra introduced in 1953.
In many digital circuits and practical problems, we need to find expressions with minimum
variables. We can minimize Boolean expressions of 3, 4 variables very easily using K-map
without using any Boolean algebra theorems.

K-map can take two forms:

1. Sum of product (SOP)
2. Product of Sum (POS)
According to the need of problem. K-map is a table-like representation, but it gives more
information than the TABLE. We fill a grid of the K-map with 0’s and 1’s then solve it by
making groups.
1. Sum of product (SOP) form

Minterm is the product of various different literals in which each literal occurs exactly once.
The output result of the minterm functions is 1. It is represented by m. To represent a function,
we perform a sum of minterms also called the Sum Of Products (SOP).
Example of SOP:
A’B + AC + BC
Steps to Solve Expression using K-map

1. Select the K-map according to the number of variables.

2. Identify minterms or maxterms as given in the problem.
3. For SOP put 1’s in blocks of K-map respective to the minterms (0’s elsewhere).
4. For POS put 0’s in blocks of K-map respective to the max terms (1’s elsewhere).
5. Make rectangular groups containing total terms in power of two like 2,4,8 ..(except 1)
and try to cover as many elements as you can in one group.
6. From the groups made in step 5 find the product terms and sum them up for SOP form.
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1. K-map of 3 variables

Fig: K-map SOP form for 3 variables

Z= ∑ m(A,B,C)=(1,3,6,7)

From red group we get product term:

 Unit 3 Simplfication of Boolean Functions
A’C
From green group we get product term:
AB
Summing these product terms we get- Final expression (A’C+AB)

2. K-map for 4 variables

Fig:K-map 4 variable SOP form

F(P,Q,R,S)= ∑ m (0,2,5,7,8,10,13,15)

From red group we get product term—

QS

From green group we get product term—

Q’S’

Summing these product terms we get- Final expression (QS+Q’S’).

2. Product of Sum (POS) form

Maxterm is the sum of various different literals in which each literal occurs exactly once. The
output result of the maxterm functions is 0. It is represented by M. To represent a function, we
perform product of maxterms also called Product of Sum (POS).

Example of POS:

(A+B). (C+D)
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1. K-map of 3 variables

Fig: K-map 3 variable POS form

F(A,B,C)= ∏ M (0,3,6,7)

From red group we find terms

A B

Taking complement of these two

A' B'

Now sum up them

 Unit 3 Simplfication of Boolean Functions
(A' + B')

From brown group we find terms

B C

Taking complement of these two terms

B’ C’

Now sum up them

(B’+C’)

From yellow group we find terms

A' B' C’

Taking complement of these two

ABC

Now sum up them

(A + B + C)

We will take product of these three terms : Final expression –

(A' + B’) (B’ + C’) (A + B + C)

2. K-map of 4 variables
 Unit 3 Simplfication of Boolean Functions
Fig:K-map 4 variable POS form

F(A,B,C,D)= ∏ M (3,5,7,8,10,11,12,13)

From green group we find terms

C’ D B

Taking their complement and summing them

(C+D’+B’)

From red group we find terms

C D A’

Taking their complement and summing them

(C’+D’+A)

From blue group we find terms

A C’ D’

Taking their complement and summing them

(A’+C+D)

From brown group we find terms

 Unit 3 Simplfication of Boolean Functions
A B’ C

Taking their complement and summing them

(A’+B+C’)

Finally we express these as product –

(C+D’+B’).(C’+D’+A).(A’+C+D).(A’+B+C’)

PITFALL– *Always remember POS ? (SOP)’

*The correct form is (POS of F)=(SOP of F’)’

Don’t Care (X) Conditions in K-Maps

One of the very significant and useful concepts in simplifying the output
expression using K-Map is the concept of “Don’t Care”. The “Don’t Care”
conditions allow us to replace the empty cell of a K-map to form a grouping of the
variables which is larger than that of forming groups without don’t care. While
forming groups of cells, we can consider a “Don’t Care” cell as 1 or 0 or we can
also ignore that cell. Therefore, the “Don’t Care” condition can help us to form a
larger group of cells.

A Don’t Care cell can be represented by a cross(X) or minus(-) or phi(Φ) in K-

Maps representing an invalid combination. For example, in the Excess-3 code
system, the states 0000, 0001, 0010, 1101, 1110, and 1111 are invalid or
unspecified. These states are called don’t cares.

A standard SOP function having don’t cares can be converted into a POS
expression by keeping don’t cares as they are, and writing the missing minterms of
the SOP form as the maxterm of POS form. Similarly, a POS function having don’t
cares can be converted to SOP form keeping the don’t cares as they are and writing
the missing maxterms of the POS expression as the minterms of SOP expression.

Example-1:
Minimise the following function in SOP minimal form using K-Maps:
f = m(1, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 14) + d(4)
 Unit 3 Simplfication of Boolean Functions
Explanation:
The SOP K-map for the given expression is:

Therefore, SOP minimal is,

f = BC' + BD' + A'C'D + AB'CD

Example-2:
Minimise the following function in POS minimal form using K-Maps:

F(A, B, C, D) = m(0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) + d(10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)

Explanation:
Writing the given expression in POS form:

F(A, B, C, D) = M(6, 7, 8, 9) + d(12, 13, 14, 15)

The POS K-map for the given expression is:

 Unit 3 Simplfication of Boolean Functions

Therefore, POS minimal is,

F = (A'+ C)(B' + C')

Example-3:
Minimise the following function in SOP minimal form using K-Maps:
F(A, B, C, D) = m(1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15) + d(0, 3, 5, 12)

Explanation:
The SOP K-map for the given expression is:
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Therefore,
f = AC'D' + A'D + A'C + AB

Significance of “Don’t Care” Conditions:

Don’t Care conditions has the following significance in designing of the digital circuits:

1. Simplification of the output.

2. Reduction in number of gates required.

3. Reduced Power Consumption.

4. Represent Invalid States in Code Converters:These are used in code converters. For
example- In design of 4-bit BCD-to-XS-3 code converter, the input combinations 1010,
1011, 1100, 1101, 1110, and 1111 are don’t cares.

5. Prevention of Hazards in Digital Circuits: Don’t cares also prevents hazards in digital
systems.

Prime Implicants and Explicit Implicants

Implicants play a crucial role in Boolean logic, as they form the building blocks for both SOP and POS
expressions. An implicant can be thought of as a product term in SOP or a sum term in POS
representing a Boolean function. Essentially, implicants encapsulate the various input combinations
(minterm or maxterm) for which the Boolean function evaluates to true.

Implicants

Implicant is a product/minterm term in Sum of Products (SOP) or sum/maxterm term in Product of Sums
(POS) of a Boolean function.

Example:

For example., consider a boolean function F(A, B, C) defined as:

F = AB + ABC + BC.

its implicants are AB, ABC, and BC.

Now let’s understand prime implicants and explicit implicants.

Prime implicants

A prime implicant is an implicant that cannot be further reduced or combined with other implicants
while still covering all the minterms (input combinations) for which the Boolean function is true. Prime
implicants are important in the process of logical minimization.
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Example:

Lets take an example of prime Implicants:

Explicit implicants

Explicit implicants represent the minimal set of terms needed to cover all the output 1s in the truth table.
They are used in logic optimization techniques such as Karnaugh Maps and Quine-McCluskey method to
simplify the logic function. Example:

A B C X

0 0 0 1

0 0 1 0

0 1 0 0

0 1 1 1

1 0 0 0

1 0 1 1

1 1 0 0

1 1 1 1

minterms = (0,3,5,7)

Lets make group of this minterms, there are several possible groupings, lets make two
groups (0,3) and (5,7).

Therefore, (A’ B’ C’ + A’ B C) and (A B’ C + A B C) are explicit implicants.