BECE102L Digital Systems Design

BOOLEAN ALGEBRA

Dr. Rohit Mathur

Assistant Professor Sr. Grade 1
School of Electronics Engineering
 George Boole

✓Father of Boolean algebra

✓ He came up with a type of linguistic algebra, the three most basic
operations of which were (and still are) AND, OR and NOT. It was these
three functions that formed the basis of his premise, and were the only
operations necessary to perform comparisons or basic mathematical
functions.
✓ Boole’s system was based on a binary approach, processing only two
objects -the yes-no, true-false, on-off, zero-one approach.
✓ Surprisingly, given his standing in the academic community, Boole's idea
George Boole (1815 -1864)
was either criticized or completely ignored by the majority of his peers.
✓ Eventually, one bright student, claude shunnon(1916-2001), picked up
the idea and ran with it.
 BASIC DEFINITIONS

1. Closer: A set is closed with respect to a binary operator if, for every pair of elements of S, the binary
operator specifies a rule for obtaining a unique element of S. For example, the set of natural numbers N =
{1, 2, 3, 4, ...} is said to be closed with respect to the binary operator plus ( + ) by the rules of arithmetic
addition, since for any X,Y  N we obtain a unique element Z  N by the operation X + Y = Z. However,
note that the set of natural numbers is not closed with respect to the binary operator minus (–) by the rules
of arithmetic subtraction because for 1 – 2 = –1, where –1 is not of the set of naturals numbers.

2. Associative Law: A binary operator * on a set S is said to be associated whenever

(A*B)*C = A*(B*C) for all A,B,C  S.

3. Commutative Law: A binary operator * on a set S is said to be commutative whenever

A*B = B*A for all A,B  S.
4. Identity Element: A set S is to have an identity element with respect to a binary operation * on S, if there
exists an element E ∈ S with the property
E*A = A*X = A.

Example: The element 0 is an identity element with respect to the binary operator + on the set of integers
I = {.... –4, –3, –2, –1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, ....} as
A + 0 = 0 + A = A.
Similarly, the element 1 is the identity element with respect to the binary operator × as
A × 1 = 1 × A = A.

5. Inverse: If a set S has the identity element E with respect to a binary operator *, there exists an element B
∈ S, which is called the inverse, for every A ∈ S, such that
A*B = E.
Example: In the set of integers I with E = 0, the inverse of an element A is (-A) since
A + (–A) = 0.
6. Distributive Law: If * and (.) are two binary operators on a set S, * is said to be distributive over (.),
whenever
A*(B.C) = (A*B).(A*C).

If summarized, for the fi eld of real numbers, the operators and postulates have the following
meanings:

1. The binary operator + defines addition.

2. The additive identity is 0.
3. The additive inverse defines subtraction.
4. The binary operator (.) defines multiplication.
5. The multiplication identity is 1.
6. The multiplication inverse of A is 1/A, defines division i.e., A. 1/A = 1.
7. The only distributive law applicable is that of (.) over +
A . (B + C) = (A . B) + (A . C)
 BASIC PROPERTIES AND THEOREMS OF BOOLEAN ALGEBRA

The following is the complete list of postulates and theorems useful for two-valued Boolean algebra.
DeMorgan's Theorem
Two theorems that were proposed by DeMorgan play important parts in Boolean algebra.

The first theorem states that the complement of a product is equal to the sum of the complements. That is, if
the variables are A and B, then
(A.B)’ = A’ + B’

The second theorem states that the complement of a sum is equal to the product of the complements. In
equation form, this can be expressed as
(A + B)’ = A’ . B’
The complements of Boolean logic function or a logic expression may be simplified or expanded by the
following steps of DeMorgan’s theorem.
(a) Replace the operator (+) with (.) and (.) with (+) given in the expression.
(b) Complement each of the terms or variables in the expression.

DeMorgan’s theorems are applicable to any number of variables. For three variables A, B, and C, the
equations are
(A.B.C)′ = A′ + B′ + C′ and (A + B + C)′ = A′.B′.C
 BOOLEAN FUNCTIONS

• Binary variables have two values, either 0 or 1.

• A Boolean function is an expression formed with binary variables, the two binary operators AND and
OR, one unary operator NOT, parentheses and equal sign.
• The value of a function may be 0 or 1, depending on the values of variables present in the Boolean
function or expression.
• For example, if a Boolean function is expressed algebraically as
F = AB’C
then the value of F will be 1, when A = 1, B = 0, and C = 1. For other values of A, B, C the value of F
is 0.

❖ Boolean functions can also be represented by truth tables. A truth table is the tabular form of the values
of a Boolean function according to the all possible values of its variables.
❖ For an n number of variables, 2n combinations of 1s and 0s are listed and one column represents
function values according to the different combinations.
For example, for three variables the Boolean function
F=x’y’z + x’yz + xy’z’ + xy’z
truth table can be written as X Y Z F
0 0 0 0
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
A Boolean function from an algebraic expression can be realized to a logic diagram composed of logic
gates.

example of a logic diagram realized by the basic gates like AND, OR, and NOT gates.
SIMPLIFICATION OF BOOLEAN EXPRESSIONS
Minterms and Maxterms

❖ For n variables, there is 2n AND and 2n OR combinations possible.

❖ Each of the AND term is a minterm or standard product.
❖ Each of the OR term is a maxterm or standard sums.
✓ Eg: variables x, y
Minterms: xy, x’y, xy’, x’y’.
Maxterms: x'+y', x+y’, x’+y, x+y.
Canonical form
A function expressed as sum of minterms (SOP) or product of max terms (POS) is said to be in
canonical form.

To convert a Boolean function into canonical form, identity element theorem has to be used.

Eg: Express the function F(x,y,z) = x+y’z in canonical form

The first term is not a minterm. So, convert it into a minterm
x = x (y + y’) (z + z’) = xyz+xyz’+xy’z+xy’z’
The second term is not a minterm. So, convert into a minterm
y’z=y’z(x+x’) = xy’z+x’y’z
Finally F(x,y,z) = x+y’z
= xyz+xyz’+xy’z+xy’z’+xy’z+x’y’z
= m1 + m4 + m5 + m6 + m7
Standard form
The standard form of the Boolean function is when it is expressed in sum of the products or product of the sums
fashion. The examples stated above,
like Y = AB + BC + AC or Y = (A + B + C)(A + B’ + C)(A + B + C’) are the standard forms.
Deriving a Sum of Products (SOP) & product of Sum (POS) Expression from a Truth Table

• consider the following truth table , for a three-input function Y. Here the output Y value is 1 for the input
conditions of 010, 100, 101, and 110, and their corresponding product terms are A’BC’, AB’C’, AB’C,
and ABC’ respectively.
The final sum of products expression (SOP) for the output Y is derived by summing or performing
an OR operation of the four product terms as shown below.

Y = A‘BC‘ + ABC‘ + AB‘C + ABC‘

the output Y value is 0 for the input conditions of 000, 001, 011, and 111, and their corresponding
product terms are A + B + C, A + B + C’, A + B’ + C’, and A’ + B’ + C’ respectively.

So now, the final product of sums expression (POS) for the output Y is derived by performing an
AND operation of the four sum terms as shown below.

Y = (A + B + C) (A + B + C’) (A + B’ + C’) (A’ + B’ + C’)

OTHER LOGIC OPERATORS
DIGITAL LOGIC GATES
 Universal Gates

NAND gates and NOR gates are called universal gates or universal building blocks, as any type of gates or logic functions
can be implemented by these gates.
Example 3.12. Realize the following function by NAND gates only,
F = B(A + CD) + AC’.

Realization by AND, OR, and NOT gates.

NAND gate realization after two cascaded inverters are removed.