Topic 3

Boolean Algebra & Optimization

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 Boolean Algebra

• “Traditional” algebra
– Variables represent real numbers
– Operators operate on variables, and
return real numbers
• Boolean Algebra
– Developed mid-1800’s by George Boole
to formalize human thought
– Variables represent 0 or 1 only
– Operators return 0 or 1 only
– Basic operators
• AND, OR, NOT

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 Boolean Algebra Terminology
• Example equation: F(a,b,c) = a’bc + abc’ + ab + c
• Variable
– Represents a value (0 or 1)
– Three variables: a, b, and c
• Literal
– Appearance of a variable, in true or complemented form
– Nine literals: a’, b, c, a, b, c’, a, b, and c
• Product term
– AND of literals
– Four product terms: a’bc, abc’, ab, c
• Sum term
– OR of literals
– No sum terms
• Sum-of-products
– Equation written as OR of product terms only
– Above equation is in sum-of-products form. “F = (a+b)c + d” is not.
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 Basic Theorems of Boolean Algebra
• (a) x + 0 = x; (b) x • 0 = 0; (theorem 1)
• (a) x + x’ = 1; (b) x • x’ = 0; (theorem 2)
• (a) x + x = x; (b) x • x = x; (theorem 3)
• (a) x + 1 = 1; (b) x • 1 = x; (theorem 4)
• (x’)’ = x; (involution)

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 Basic Theorems of Boolean Algebra
• (a) x + y = y + x; (b) xy = yx; (commutative)
• (a) x + (y + z) = (x + y) + z; (b) x(yz) = (xy)z; (associative)
• (a) x(y + z) = xy + xz; (b) x + yz = (x+y)(x+z); (distributive)
• (a) x + xy = x; (b) x(x + y) = x; (absorption)
• (a) xy + xy’ = x; (b) (x + y)(x + y’) = x (theorem 5)
• (a) x + x’y = x + y (b) x(x’ + y) = xy (theorem 6)

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 Operator Precedence
• The operator precedence for evaluating basic Boolean expressions is:
– Parenthesis
– NOT
– AND
– OR
• Example: (x + y)’
– Evaluate the parenthesized expression (x + y) first and then the
inversion
• Example: x + xy
– Evaluate xy first and then OR it with the value of x

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 Application of Basic Theorems

• Prove theorem 5(a): xy + xy’ = x

xy + xy’
= x(y + y’) (distributive (a))
= x • 1 Class Derivation (theorem 2(a) )
= x (theorem 4(b) )

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 Application of Basic Theorems

• Prove theorem 5(b): (x + y)(x + y’) = x

(x + y)(x + y’)
= x + yy’ (distributive (b))
= x + 0 Class Derivation (theorem 2(b) )
= x (theorem 1(a) )

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 Application of Basic Theorems

• Prove theorem 5(b): (x + y)(x + y’) = x, alternatively

(x + y)(x + y’)
= (x + y)x + (x + y)y’ (distributive (a))
= xx + xy + xy’ + yy’ (distributive (a))
= x + xy + xy’ + 0 (theorem 2(b), 3(b))
= x + x(y + y’) Class Derivation
(theorem 1(a), distributive (a))
= x+x (theorem 2(a), 4(b))
= x (theorem 3(a))

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 Application of Basic Theorems

• Prove theorem 6(a): x + x’y = x + y

x + x’y
= (x + x’)(x + y) (distributive (a) )
= 1 • (x + y) (theorem 2(a) )
= x + y Class Derivation (theorem 4(b) )

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 Application of Basic Theorems

• Exercises
1. x’y + x’
2. a’bc + a’
3. a’b’c + (a’b’c)’
4. (a + b)(c + b)(d’ + b)(acd’ + e)
5. wx’y’ + wxz’ + wx’yz’

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 DeMorgan’s Law

(a) (x + y)’ = x’y’

(b) (xy)’ = x’ + y’

• Very Useful

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 Applications of DeMorgan’s Law

• Find the complement of F = x(y’z’ + yz)

• F’ = (x(y’z’ + yz))’ (All steps by DeMorgan’s law)
= x’ + (y’z’ + yz)’
Class
= x’ +Derivation
(y’z’)’ • (yz)’
= x’ + (y + z)(y’ + z’)
• Exercise
((AB’ + C)D’ + E)’

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 XOR Properties
x  0 = x (a) x  1 = x’ (b) (theorem 1)
x  x = 0 (a) x  x’ = 1 (b) (theorem 2)
x  y’ = x’  y = (x  y)’ (theorem 3)
xy=yx (commutative)
(x  y)  z = x  (y  z) = x  y  z (associative)

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 Boolean Representation: Minterm and Maxterm

• A binary literal may be in the unprimed (true) form and primed (false)
forms, representing true and false conditions respectively
– E.g. a vs. a’
• Minterm is a product of n literals in which each literal appears exactly
once in either true or complemented form, but not both
– Minterm is represented by mi
• Maxterm is a sum of n literals in which each literal appears exactly once in
either true or complemented form, but not both
– Maxterm is represented by Mi

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 Minterm and Maxterm
Minterms Maxterms
x y z Term Designation Term Designation
0 0 0 x’y’z’ m0 x+y+z M0
0 0 1 x’y’z m1 x+y+z’ M1
0 1 0 x’yz’ m2 x+y’+z M2
0 1 1 x’yz m3 x+y’+z’ M3
1 0 0 xy’z’ m4 x’+y+z M4
1 0 1 xy’z m5 x’+y+z’ M5
1 1 0 xyz’ m6 x’+y’+z M6
1 1 1 xyz m7 x’+y’+z’ M7

Subscription i of minterm is the decimal equivalent of the corresponding

binary combination
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 Minterm in Truth Table
x y z F Result will happen if con1 is false AND
con2 is false AND con3 is true  x’y’z
con1 con2 con3 result
0 0 0 0 Result will happen if con1 is false AND
0 0 1 1 con2 is true AND con3 is true  x’yz

0 1 0 0 Result will happen if con1 is true AND

0 1 1 1 con2 is false AND con3 is false  xy’z’

1 0 0 1 Result will happen if con1 is true AND

1 0 1 1 con2 is false AND con3 is true  xy’z
1 1 0 0
Result will happen if any of these four
1 1 1 0 cases happens, implying an OR logic,
This relationship is expressed by:
F = x’y’z + x’yz + xy’z’ + xy’z

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 Minterm Expression From Truth Table
• A Boolean Equation can be derived from a truth table and expressed as a
sum-of-minterms (standard-sum-of-products)
• The minterms chosen in the sum-of-minterms expression are those
which produce a logic 1 for the corresponding output
• Example: x y z F
F = x’y’z + x’yz + xy’z’ + xy’z con1 con2 con3 result
Class
= m1 + m3 + m4 + m5 0 0 0 0

Derivation
=  m(1, 3, 4, 5) 0 0 1 1
0 1 0 0
0 1 1 1
1 0 0 1
1 0 1 1
1 1 0 0
1 1 1 0
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 Exercise
• Find minterm logic equation from these truth table
W X Y Z F
0 0 0 0 1 m0 W’X’Y’Z’
x y z F
0 0 0 1 0 m1 W’X’Y’Z
0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 m2 W’X’YZ’
0 0 Class
1 0 Exercise 0
0
0 1 1
1 0 0
1
0
m3
m4
W’X’YZ
W’XY’Z’
0 1 0 0
1- 3 mins
0 1 0 1 0 m5 W’XY’Z
0 1 1 0 0 m6 W’XYZ’
0 1 1
0 1 1 1 1 m7 W’XYZ
1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 m8 WX’Y’Z’
1 0 1 1 Class 1 0 0 1 0 m9 WX’Y’Z
1 0 1 0 0 m10 WX’YZ’
1 1 0 1
1 Derivation
1 0 1 1 0 m11 WX’YZ
1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 m12 WXY’Z’
1 1 0 1 0 m13 WXY’Z
1 1 1 0 0 m14 WXYZ’
1 1 1 1 1 m15 WXYZ

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 Minterms and Maxterms

• The complement of Minterm is the corresponding

Maxterm, vice versa
– mi’ = Mi
– e.g.: m0 = x’y’z’
m0’ = (x’y’z’)’ = x + y + z = M0 (DeMorgan’s)
• Conversion between Standard Forms
– the term numbers missing from one form will be the term numbers used
in the other form
– e.g.: if all the terms are indexed by 0 ~ 7, then
F = Σ m(1, 2, 4, 7) = Π M(0, 3, 5, 6)

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 Minterms and Maxterms
• Example: In the given truth table, F1 is output of a 3-input device

Truth Table Sum-of-minterms Product-of-maxterms

x y z F1
0 0 0 0 F1 = x’y’z + xy’z’ + xy’z F1 = (x+y+z) • (x+y’+z) •
xyz’ + xyz (x+y’+z’)
0 0 1 1
0 1 0 0 Class
F1 = m1+m4+m5+m6+m7 Class
F1 = M0 • M2 • M3
0 1 1 0
1 0 0 1 Derivation
F1 = Σ (1, 4, 5, 6, 7)
Derivation
F1 = Π (0, 2, 3)
1 0 1 1
1 1 0 1
1 1 1 1

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 Incompletely Specified Functions

• In a circuit, some input

x y z F
conditions may never happen,
then the output is not 0 0 0 0
completely specified 0 0 1 1
• The corresponding output is 0 1 0 X
designated as “x”, called don’t 0 1 1 1
care 1 0 0 1
• A don’t care output could be 1 0 1 X
either 0 or 1 1 1 0 0
• F =  m(1, 3, 4) with d(2, 5) 1 1 1 0

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 Simplified Forms

• The minterm and maxterm forms can be further simplified

– Boolean function may contain less number of terms
– Each term may have less literals
– e.g.:

Simplified SOP
F1 = x + y’z
Why to simplify? &
Simplified POS
F1 = (x + y’)(x + z)
How to?

– Why?
– How to? Boolean theorems. And more….

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