Circuits & Boolean algebra

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CSCI 255: Introduction to Embedded Systems • Keith Vertanen • Copyright © 2011
 Overview
• Digital circuits
– How a switch works
– Building basic gates from switches
• Boolean algebra
– Sum-of-products notation
– Rules of Boolean algebra
– Minimization

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 Digital circuits
• Building blocks:
– Wires
• Propagate an ON/OFF value
• 1 = connected to power
• 0 = not connect to power
• Any wire connected to a
wire that is on is also on
– Switches
• Controls propagation of an
ON/OFF value through a
wire

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 Controlled switch
• Building a switch
– 3 connections: input, output, control
– control = OFF, input connected to output

control

input output

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 Switch types

Relay Vacuum tube

Transistor Pass transistor

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 Logic gates
• Build NOT, OR, AND gates from switches
NOT = x' x NOT
0 1
1 0

OR = x + y x y OR
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 1

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 Logic gates
AND = xy x y AND
0 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1

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 Inverted gate variants
NOR(x,y) x y NOR
0 0 1
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 0

NAND(x,y) x y NAND
0 0 1
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0

XNOR(x,y) x y XNOR
0 0 1
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1
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 Boolean algebra
• Boolean algebra
– Every variable is either 0 or 1
– Functions whose inputs and outputs are 0 or 1
• Relationship to circuits:
– Boolean variable = signal (ON/OFF)
– Boolean function = circuit made of gates & wires
• Relationship to truth tables:
– Systematic way to represent any Boolean function
– One row for any input combination

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 2 variable truth tables
• Given 2 variables, how many possible Boolean
functions?
x y function 1 function 2 … function
N
0 0
0 1
1 0
1 1

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 All 2 variable Boolean functions
x y ZERO AND x y XOR OR
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1
1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1
1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1

x y NOR EQ y' x' NAND ONE

0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1
1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1
1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1

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 3 variables truth tables
• Given 3 variables, how many total possible
Boolean functions?
x y z function function … function
1 2 N
0 0 0
0 0 1
0 1 0
0 1 1
1 0 0
1 0 1
1 1 0
1 1 1

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 Representing Boolean functions
• 16 = 24 Boolean functions of 2 variables
• 256 = 28 Boolean functions of 3 variables
• 65536 = 216 Boolean functions of 4 variables
n
• 2
2 Boolean functions of n variables!
– We need a more compact representation

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 Sum-of-products
• Universality: any Boolean function can be
expressed using {AND, OR, NOT}
– Also universal:
{AND, NOT}, {OR, NOT},
{NAND}, {NOR}
• Sum-of-products
– Create Boolean expression from truth table
– Form AND term for each 1 in table
– OR terms together

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 Sum-of-products: XOR
XOR = x ⊕ y x y XOR
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0

XOR(x,y) = x'y + xy'

– Form AND term for each 1 in table

– OR terms together
– Easy to convert to circuit using only AND, OR, NOT
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 Sum-of-products: XOR
XOR = x ⊕ y x y XOR
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 0

XOR(x,y) = x'y + xy'

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 Majority function
• Majority function
– 1 if majority of bits are 1, 0 otherwise
x y z MAJ(x,y,z)
0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0
0 1 0 0
0 1 1 1
1 0 0 0
1 0 1 1
1 1 0 1
1 1 1 1

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 Majority function
x y z MAJ(x,y,z)
0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0
0 1 0 0
0 1 1 1
1 0 0 0
1 0 1 1
1 1 0 1
1 1 1 1

MAJ(x,y,z) = x'yz + xy'z + xyz' + xyz

Can we do better?

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 Minimizing MAJ(x,y,z)
MAJ(x,y,z) = x'yz + xy'z + xyz' + xyz = xy + yz + xz

4, 3-input AND gates 3, 2-input AND gates

3, NOT gates 1, 3-input OR gate
1, 4-input OR gate

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 Products-of-sums
• Products-of-sums
– Create Boolean expression from truth table
– Form OR term for each 0 in table
• Use X in OR term if X = 0, X’ is X = 1
– AND terms together

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 Product of sums: Majority
x y z MAJ(x,y,z)
0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0
0 1 0 0
0 1 1 1
1 0 0 0
1 0 1 1
1 1 0 1
1 1 1 1

MAJ(x,y,z) = (x + y + z) (x + y + z’) (x + y’ + z) (x’ + y + z)

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 Comparing POS vs. SOP
• Products-of-sums (POS)
– Create Boolean expression from truth table
– Form OR term for each 0 in table
• Use X in OR term if X = 0, X’ is X = 1
– AND terms together
• Sum-of-products (SOP)
– Create Boolean expression from truth table
– Form AND term for each 1 in table
– Use X in AND term if X = 1, use X’ if X = 0
– OR terms together
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 Rules of Boolean algebra
(a) (b)
1. Commutative law x+y=y+x xy = yx
2. Associate law (x + y) + z = x + (y + z) (xy)z=x(yz)
3. Distributive law x(y + z) = xy + xz (x + y)(x + z) = x + yz
4. Identity law x+x=x xx = x
5. xy + xy' = x (x + y)(x + y') = x
6. Redundance law x + xy = x x(x + y) = x
7. 0+x=x 0x = 0
8. 1+x=1 1x = x
9. x' + x = 1 x'x = 0
10. x + x'y = x + y x(x' + y) = xy
11. De Morgan's Theorem (x + y)' = x'y' (xy)' = x' + y'

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 Minimizing MAJ(x, y, z)
MAJ(x, y, z) = x'yz + xy'z + xyz' + xyz
= x'yz + xy'z + xy(z' + z) [3a] distributive
= x'yz + xy'z + xy [9a]
= x'yz + xy'z + xy(1 + z) [8a]
= x'yz + xy'z + xy + xyz [3a] distributive
= yz(x' + x) + xy'z + xy [3a] distributive
= yz + xy'z + xy [9a]
= yz + xy'z + xy(1 + z) [8a]
= yz + xy'z + xy + xyz [3a] distributive
= yz + xz(y' + y) + xy [3a] distributive
= yz + xz + xy [9a]

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 Problem 1: Odd parity function
• Odd parity
– 1 if odd number of bits are 1
– Find sum-of-products
– Draw the circuit
x y z ODD(x,y,z)
0 0 0 0
0 0 1 1
0 1 0 1
0 1 1 0
1 0 0 1
1 0 1 0
1 1 0 0
1 1 1 1
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 Problem 2: Absolute value
• 3-bit number in two’s complement
– Bits = xyz
• Create a truth table for ABS(x,y,z) >= 2
– ABS() is 1 if and only if absolute value is 2 or more
• Find sum-of-products
• Minimize the Boolean expression
• Draw the circuit

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 Problem 3:
• Show that {NAND} is universal
– Hint: show you can build AND, OR, NOT from 1-3
NAND gates
• Show that {NOR} is universal
• Show that {AND, NOT} is universal
– Hint: Use De Morgan’s on sum-of-products to
eliminate OR
• Show that {OR, NOT} is universal
– Hint: Use De Morgan’s on products-of-sums to
eliminate AND
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 Summary
• Wires + switches → gates {AND, OR, NOT}
• Truth table → sum-of-products Boolean
expression
• Sum-of-products → circuit
• Simplification via rules of Boolean algebra

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