CSE140 Class Notes 4

Quine-McCluskey Tableaux Reduction Rule

Definition 1
Two rows a and b of a reduced prime table, which cover the same minterms are said to be
interchangeable.

Definition 2
Given two rows a and b in a reduced prime implicant table, row a is said to dominate row
b if row a has checks in all the columns in which row b has checks and rows a and b are
not interchangeable.

Definition 3
Two columns c and d of a reduced prime table, which are covered by the same prime
implicants are said to be interchangeable.

Definition 4
Given two columns c and d in a reduced prime implicant table, column c is said to
dominate column d if column c has checks in all the rows in which column d has checks
and column c and d are not interchangeable.

Theorem 1
Let a and b be rows of a reduced prime implicant table. If a dominates b or a and b are
interchangeable, there exists a minimal sum of products that does not include b.

Theorem 2
Let c and d be columns of a reduced prime implicant table If c is dominated by d or c and
d are interchangeable, there exists a minimal sum of products that does not include d.

Example
Determine the minimal sum-of-products form for

F(A,B,C,D,E) = (1,2,3,5,9,10,11,18,19,20,21,23,25,26,27)

Step 1:
Using tabulation method, generating all the prime implicants and construct a prime
implicant table, as shown in Table 1.

1
 Name Expression 1 2 3 5 9 10 11 18 19 20 21 23 25 26 27
P1 CD X X X X X X X X
P2 BCE X X X X
P3 ACD X X X X
P4 ABDE X X
P5 BCDE X X
P6 ABCD X X
P7 ABDE X X
P8 ABCE X X

Table 1

Step 2:
Based on the information in Table 1, select all the essential prime implicants. As shown
in Table 2, the EPIs (marked by a preceding *) are
CD (P1), BCE (P2), ABCD (P6)

Name Expression 1 2 3 5 9 10 11 18 19 20 21 23 25 26 27
*P1 CD X X X X X X X X
*P2 BCE X X X X
P3 ACD X X X X
P4 ABDE X X
P5 BCDE X X
*P6 ABCD X X
P7 ABDE X X
P8 ABCE X X

Table 2

Step 3:
Reduce the prime implicant table by crossing out the minterms already covered by the
implicants selected (applying Theorem 2). As shown in Table 3, besides m2, m10, m18, m25
and m26, the minterm m3, m9, m11, m19, m21, and m27 are also be covered by the P1, P2 or
P3. Therefore they are crossed out.

Name Expression 1 2 3 5 9 10 11 18 19 20 21 23 25 26 27
*P1 CD X X X X X X X X
*P2 BCE X X X X
P3 ACD X X X X
P4 ABDE X X
P5 BCDE X X
*P6 ABCD X X
P7 ABDE X X
P8 ABCE X X

Table 3

2
Step 4:
In the reduced prime table, P4 dominates P3 and P5, P7 and P8 are interchangeable.
Therefore, there is a minimal cover which doe not include P3, P5 and P8, as in Table 4
(applying Theorem 1).

Name Expression 1 2 3 5 9 10 11 18 19 20 21 23 25 26 27
*P1 CD X X X X X X X X
*P2 BCE X X X X
P3 ACD X X X X
P4 ABDE X X
P5 BCDE X X
*P6 ABCD X X
P7 ABDE X X
P8 ABCE X X

Table 4

Finally the minimal cover is:

F = CD + BCE + ABDE + ABDE