Digital Logic Design

Dr. Sajid Sarwar

Chapter 2
Boolean Algebra and Logic Gates

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Boolean Algebra and Logic
Gates
 Outline
 Basic definitions
 Boolean algebra
 Definition
 Properties and theorems
 Boolean functions
 Canonical and standard forms
 Logic operations
 Digital logic gates
 Integrated circuits

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Definitions [Chapter 2
Section 2.2]
 Recall of ordinary algebra
1. Closure
2. Associative law
3. Commutative law
4. Identity law
5. Inverse
6. Distributive law
7. DeMorgan’s law

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Properties of Ordinary
Algebra
 Closure
 S is closed with respect to a binary operator, if for
every pair of elements of S, a unique element of
S is obtained by applying the binary operator
 Example
 The set of natural number N = {1, 2, 3, 4, ….}
 Closed with respect to ‘+’ but not with respect to ‘-’

 Associative law
( x * y ) * z  x * ( y * z ) for all x, y, z  S

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Properties of Ordinary
Algebra
 Commutative law
x * y  y * x for all x, y  S

 Identity element
e * x  x * e  x for every x  S
 Example
 0  identity element with respect to ‘+’
 1  identity element with respect to ‘*’

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Properties of Ordinary
Algebra
 Inverse
x * y e for x, y  S
 Distributive law
x * ( y.z ) ( x * y ).( x * z )
 DeMorgan’s law
( x  y )  xy
( xy )  x  y
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Boolean Algebra [Chapter 2
Section 2.3]
 A closed algebraic system containing a set K
of two or more elements and the two
operators, ‘.’ and ‘+’
 In our case, elements are only ‘0’ and ‘1’

 Useful for identifying and minimizing circuit

functionality

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Properties of Boolean
Algebra
1. Closed with respect to ‘+’ and ‘.’

2. Identity elements
a. ‘0’ with respect to ‘+’  x  0 0  x x
b. ‘1’ with respect to ‘.’  x.1 1.x  x

3. Commutative with respect to

a. ‘+’  x  y y  x
b. ‘.’  x. y  y.x
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Properties of Boolean
Algebra
4. Distributive over ‘+’ and ‘.’
a. x.( y  z ) ( x. y )  ( x.z )
b. x  ( y.z ) ( x  y ).( x  z )
5. Complement
For every x  B, x B as well such that
a. x  x 1, and
b. x.x 0
6. At least two elements x,y such that
x y
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Differences with Ordinary
Algebra
 Postulates do not include associativity
 Can be derived for both operators

 Distributivity of + over . holds for Boolean, but not for ordinary

algebra
 x+ (y . z) = (x+y) . (x+z)

 Boolean algebra does not have inverse elements for + or .

 Thus, no subtraction or division operators

 Complement is not defined in ordinary algebra

 Set of elements in Boolean algebra not yet defined

 But there must be at least two elements

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Two valued (Binary) Boolean
Algebra
 Structure is closed with respect to ‘+’ and ‘.’
 ‘0’ is identity element for ‘+’ and ‘1’ for ‘.’
 Commutative law can be verified from tables
 From complement table x+x’ = 1 & x.x’ = 0
AND OR NOT

x y x.y x y x+y
0 0 0 0 0 0 x x’
0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1
1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0
1 1 1 1 1 1
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Binary Boolean Algebra
 Distributive law can be verified from following
tables x.( y  z ) ( x. y )  ( x.z )
 Binary algebra has two elements ‘1’, ‘0’ where
1≠0

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Theorems and Properties
[Chapter 2 Section 2.4]

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Theorems and Properties

 Duality principle
 Algebraic expressions remain valid if operators
and identity elements are interchanged

 Interchange
 OR with AND
 AND with OR
 ‘1’ with ‘0’
 ‘0’ with ‘1’
 Variable as it is

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Theorems and Properties

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Theorems and Properties

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Theorems and Properties
 Theorem 1
(a) x  x  x
(b) x.x  x

x  x ( x  x).1 2(b)  x.1 x

( x  x).( x  x) 5(a)  x  x 1
x  x.x 4(b)  x  ( y.z ) ( x  y ).( x  z )
x  0 5(b)  x.x 0
x 2(a)  x  0 x

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Theorems and Properties
 Theorem 1

x.x  x

x.x  xx  0 2(a)  x  0  x
( xx)  ( xx) 5(b)  xx 0
 x( x  x) 4(a)  x( y  z ) ( xy )  ( xz )
 x.1 5(a)  x  x 1
x 2(b)  x.1  x

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Theorems and Properties
 Theorem 2
x  1 1
x.0 0

 Theorem 3 (Involution)
( x)  x

 Theorem 4 (Associative)
x  ( y  z ) ( x  y )  z
x.( y.z ) ( x. y ).z

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Theorems and Properties
 Theorem 5 (DeMorgan)
( x  y )  xy
( xy )  x  y

 Theorem 6 (Absorption)
x  xy  x
x( x  y )  x

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Theorems and Properties
 Theorem 5 (DeMorgan)
x y
x+y (x + y)’ x’ y’ x’y’

0 0 0 1 1 1 1
0 1 1 0 1 0 0
1 0 1 0 0 1 0
1 1 1 0 0 0 0
 Theorem 6 (Absorption)
x y xy x + xy
0 0 0 0
0 1 0 0
1 0 0 1
1 1 1 1

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Operator Precedence

1. Parenthesis
2. NOT

3. AND

4. OR

Example: DeMorgan Law

(x + y)’ = x’y’

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Boolean Functions [Chapter 2
Section 2.5]
 Algebraic expression consists of
 Binary variables
 Constants 1 and 0
 Logic operation symbols

 Also represented by a truth table

 Easy to transform to digital circuits

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Boolean Functions
 Example F1  x  yz
 Function is 1 when = ?

 Boolean function Truth Table

(1 representation)
 Different Boolean algebraic form
for same Boolean function

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Boolean Functions

F1  x  yz

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Boolean Functions
Comparison
F  xyz  xyz  xy
2

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Boolean Function
Comparison

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Algebraic Manipulation
 The manipulation of Boolean algebra consists
mostly of reducing an expression for the
purpose of obtaining a simpler circuit.

 Each term  a gate

 Each variable  input to gate
 Literal  Each occurrence of variable in its form
or complement form.
 Goal: To reduce
1. Number of terms 2. Numtber of lierals 3. Both
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 Complement of a Function
 Interchange 0’s and 1’s
 Interchange AND and OR operators or
 In a generalized manner, take the dual and then
complement each literal

( A  B  C )  ABC 
Similarly,
( A  B  C  ....  Z )  ABC ....Z  and
( ABC....Z )  A  B  C   ....  Z 

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Complement of a Function

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Canonical Forms [Chapter 2
Section 2.6]

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Canonical Forms [Chapter 2
Section 2.6]

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Canonical Forms [Chapter 2
Section 2.6]
 A form is canonical if representation of a function in
this form is unique
 Example: truth table is a canonical representation
 Uses minterms as basic component

 Minterm or Standard Product

 Product (ANDing) of all variables
 Representation of each variable of function (normal or
complement)
 n variable function has 2n minterms

 Any algebraic expression can be converted to a

canonical form
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Standard Forms [Chapter 2
Section 2.6]
 A form is canonical if representation of a function in
this form is unique
 Example: truth table is a canonical representation
 Uses minterms as basic component

 Minterm or Standard Product

 Product (ANDing) of all variables
 Representation of each variable of function (normal or
complement)
 n variable function has 2n minterms

 Any algebraic expression can be converted to a

canonical form
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Minterms (For three
variables)
x y z minterm designation
0 0 0 x'y'z' m0
0 0 1 x'y'z m1
0 1 0 x'yz' m2
0 1 1 x'yz m3
1 0 0 xy'z' m4
1 0 1 xy'z m5
1 1 0 xyz' m6
1 1 1 xyz m7
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Minterms

f1  xy z  xy z   xyz
m1  m4  m7  (1,4,7)
f 2  xyz  xy z  xyz   xyz
m3  m5  m6  m7  (3,5,6,7)

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DeMorgan’s Law with Canonical
Forms
 DeMorgan’s theorem follows duality
 For 2 variables
( x  y )  x. y
( x. y )  x  y
 For generalize form
(a  b  c  .....  z ) a.b.c....z 
(a.b.c......z ) a  b  c  ...  z 

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Maxterms (Dual Canonical
Form)
 Sum of minterms can be converted to product
of maxterms

 Maxterm
 Sum (ORing) of all variables
 Contains every variable in the function
 Function is product of maxterms where F=0
 Compare it with minterms in which function is sum of
minterms where F = 1

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Maxterms

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Sum of Minterms, Product of
Maxterms
 n binary variables  2n minterms or maxterms

 Easier to directly map to truth tables

 1s  minterms
 0s  maxterms

 Conversion

mj M j
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Conversion between
Canonical Forms
 Easy to convert between minterm and maxterm
representations
 For maxterm representation, select rows with 0’s
x y z F
0 0 0 0 F = xyz + xyz’ + x’yz
0 0 1 0
0 1 0 0 F = m7 + m6 + m3 = Σ(3, 6, 7)
0 1 1 1
1 0 0 0
1 0 1 0 F = M0M1M2M4M5 = Π(0,1,2,4,5)
1 1 0 1
1 1 1 1
F = (x+y+z)(x+y+z’)(x+y’+z)(x’+y+z)(x’+y+z’)
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Conversion between
Canonical Forms

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Conversion between
Canonical Forms

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Conversion between
Canonical Forms

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Standard Forms [Chapter 2
Section 2.6]
Representation of Circuits
All logic expressions can be represented in 2-level format


Circuits can be reduced to minimal 2-level representation



 Sum of products representation most common in industry

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Other Logic Operations
[Chapter 2 Section 2.7]
 Recall: n binary variables  22n functions
 For n=2, 16 possible Boolean functions

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Logic Operations

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Digital Logic Gates [Chapter
2 Section 2.8]

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Digital Logic Gates

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Positive and Negative Logic

 Signal levels as high (H) or low (L)

 Positive logic
 H1
 L0

 Negative logic
 H0
 L1

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Positive and Negative Logic
 Truth Table for H and L

 In positive logic: AND

 In negative logic: OR

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Integrated Circuits (IC)
[Chapter 2 Section 2.9]
 Small Scale Integration (SSI)
 10s of logic gates

 Medium Scale Integration (MSI)

 100s – 1000s of logic gates

 Large Scale Integration (LSI)

 1000s – 10000s of logic gates

 Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI)

 100000s of logic gates

 Ultra Large Scale Integration (ULSI)

 Millions of logic gates

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