UNIT 4 – Applications of Boolean Algebra/

Minterm and Maxterm Expansions

This chapter in the book includes:

Objectives
Study Guide
4.1 Conversion of English Sentences to
Boolean Equations
4.2 Combinational Logic Design Using a Truth Table
4.3 Minterm and Maxterm Expansions
4.4 General Minterm and Maxterm Expansions
4.5 Incompletely Specified Functions
4.6 Examples of Truth Table Construction
4.7 Design of Binary Adders and Subtracters
Problems

Prof. Hyoung Won Baac

 Objective

• Conversion of English Sentences to Boolean Equations

• Combinational Logic Design Using a Truth Table
• Minterm and Maxterm Expansions
• General Minterm and Maxterm Expansions
• Incompletely Specified Functions (Don’t care term)
• Examples of Truth Table Construction
• Design of Binary Adders(Full adder) and Subtracters
4.1 Conversion of English Sentences to Boolean Equations

- Steps in designing a single-output combinational switching circuit

1. Find a switching function which specifies the desired behavior of the circuit
2. Find a simplified algebraic expression for the function
3. Realize the simplified function using logic elements available

Example)
Mary watches TV if it is Monday night and she has finished her homework.

F A B
F is ‘true’ if A and B are both ‘true’ à F=AB
4.1 Conversion of English Sentences to Boolean Equations

The alarm will ring iff the alarm switch is on and the door is not closed

Z A B’

OR it is after 6 pm and the window is not closed

C D’

Boolean Equation: Z = AB'+CD '

Circuit realization:
4.2 Combinational Logic Design Using a Truth Table

Example) When A, B, and C represents each bit of a 3-bit binary number N,

the output f = 1 if N³ 0112 and f = 0 if N < 0112.

Combinational Circuit with Truth Table

Find an expression for f=1 directly from the truth table

f = A' BC + AB' C '+ AB' C + ABC '+ ABC à If one of the five terms is 1,
then f =1.
(we call this procedure à “ORing”)
Note that when (A,B,C) = (0,0,0), (0,0,1), or (0,1,0), the above equation becomes zero.
à Automatically, these three combinations of A,B, and C follow the given truth table by
defining the above equation.
 4.2 Combinational Logic Design Using a Truth Table

f = A' BC + AB' C '+ AB' C + ABC '+ ABC

Once we find a Boolean
expression from the truth table,
then we can simplify it to
a minimal form
f = A' BC + AB'+ AB = A' BC + A = A + BC

Logic circuit realization à

 4.2 Combinational Logic Design Using a Truth Table

Find an expression for f=0 from the truth table

Combinational Circuit with Truth Table

Expression for f=0 à

f = ( A + B + C )( A + B + C ' )( A + B'+C ) à If one of the three terms is 0, then f =0.

(e.g. A+B+C’=0 only when A=B=C’=0) For other five combinations of A,B, and C,
the equation becomes 1.

If we find an expression for f ’=1, f ' = A' B' C '+ A' B' C + A' BC '
then we can take the complement
of f ‘ to get f. f = ( A + B + C )( A + B + C ' )( A + B'+C )
(by DeMorgan’s law)
4.3 Minterm and Maxterm Expansions

minterm (a “product” of n literals)

f = A' BC + AB' C '+ AB' C + ABC '+ ABC

maxterm (a “sum” of n literals)

f = ( A + B + C )( A + B + C ' )( A + B'+C )

Minterms & Maxterms for three variables

Note: mi = Mi’
4.3 Minterm and Maxterm Expansions

A sum of minterms
à Minterm expansion (= a standard sum of products)

f = A' BC + AB' C '+ AB' C + ABC '+ ABC

f ( A, B, C ) = m3 + m4 + m5 + m6 + m7
f ( A, B, C ) = å m(3,4,5,6,7) (à decimal notation)

A product of maxterms
à Maxterm expansion (= a standard product of sums)

f = ( A + B + C )( A + B + C ' )( A + B'+C )

f ( A, B, C ) = M 0 M1M 2

f ( A, B, C ) = Õ M (0,1,2) (à decimal notation)

4.3 Minterm and Maxterm Expansions

f ( A, B, C ) = m3 + m4 + m5 + m6 + m7
f ' = m0 + m1 + m2 = å m(0,1,2)

f ( A, B, C ) = M 0 M1M 2
f ' = Õ M (3,4,5,6,7) = M 3 M 4 M 5 M 6 M 7

Minterm and Maxterm expansions are complement each other

f ' = (m3 + m4 + m5 + m6 + m7 )' = m'3 m'4 m'5 m'6 m'7 = M 3 M 4 M 5 M 6 M 7

f ' = (M 0 M1M 2 )' = M '0 + M '1 + M '2 = m0 + m1 + m2 mi = Mi’
 4.3 Minterm and Maxterm Expansions

Example: Minterm expansion à Each variable in each term should appear exactly once
in either true or complemented form, but not both.

Intentional expansion
using 4 variables
to perform minterm
expansion
repeated terms

(à decimal notation)
 4.3 Minterm and Maxterm Expansions

Example: Maxterm expansion

Intentional expansion
using 4 variables
to perform maxterm
expansion
 4.4 General Minterm and Maxterm Expansions

Minterm expansion
7
F = a0 m0 + a1m1 + a2 m2 + ... + a7 m7 = å ai mi
i =0

ai =1, minterm mi is present

ai =0, minterm mi is not present

Maxterm expansion
7
F = (a0 + M 0 )(a1 + M 1 )(a2 + M 2 )...(a7 + M 7 ) = Õ (ai + M i )
i =0
• Truth table for general
3-variable function ai =1, ai + Mi =1 , Maxterm Mi is not present
• ai is a weighting factor ai =0, Maxterm is present
with either 0 or 1
 4.4 General Minterm and Maxterm Expansions

7 7 7
F ' = [Õ ( ai + M i )]' =
i =0
åa 'M
i =0
i i '= å a 'm
i =0
i i Note: mi = Mi’

7 7 7
a0 = a1 = a2 =0
F ' = [å ai mi ]' = Õ ( ai '+ mi ' ) = Õ ( ai '+ M i ) àa0’ = a1’ = a2’ =1
i =0 i =0 i =0

Example F = m3 + m 4 + m5 + m6 + m7 F ' = m0 + m1 + m2
à All minterms, which are not present in F, are present in F’

a3 = a4 = a5 = a6 = a7 = 1
Example F = M 0M 1M 2 F ' = M 3M 4M 5M 6M 7 à a3 = a4 = a5 = a6 = a7 = 0
à All maxterms, which are not present in F, are present in F’
4.4 General Minterm and Maxterm Expansions

In general, for n variables:

2 n -1 2 n -1
F = åa m
i =0
i i = Õ (ai + M i )
i =0

2 n -1 2 n -1
F'= å a'
i =0
i mi = Õ (a'i + M i )
i =0

A product of minterms (mi mj = ?)

By definition, each minterm (mi) means a product of all of the independent variables
(in a true or complement form)
à For example: 000 001 010 011 100 101 110 111

Therefore, any of the products mi mj = 0 if i and j are different.

A sum of maxterms (Mi + Mj = ?)

If i and j are different, what is Mi + Mj ?

 4.4 General Minterm and Maxterm Expansions

Let’s consider two functions (f1 and f2) that perform different logic operations
(but using the same pool of minterms)

2 n -1 2 n -1
f1 = åa m
i =0
i i f2 = åb m
j =0
j j

Then, a product of two functions will result in

mi mj = 0 if i ¹ j

2 n -1 2 n -1 2 n -1 2 n -1 2 n -1
f1 f 2 = ( å a m )( å b m
i =0
i i
j =0
j j) = å åa b m m = åa b m
i =0 j =0
i j i j
i =0
i i i

Example: Example: X Y f1 f2 f 1f 2

0 0 0 1 0
f1 = å m(0,2,3,5,9,11) and f 2 = å m(0,3,9,11,13,14 ) 0 1 1 1 1

f1 f 2 = å m(0,3,9,11) 1
1
0
1
1
1
1
0
1
0
Conversion between minterm and maxterm expansions of F and F’

Table 4-4 (Conversion example)

f f’
 4.5 Incompletely Specified Functions

Truth Table with Don’t Cares

If some of the input combinations (in A, B, and C) don’t

occur from the result of N1, we don’t need to consider
such combinations into a final Boolean expression for F:

à Let’s assign such output in F as ‘X’ (means ‘don’t care’)

à F is called an incompletely specified function

In this example, we assume that the combination of

w, x, y, and z does not generate ABC = 001 and 110.
 4.5 Incompletely Specified Functions
PROBLEM:
F = A'B 'C '+A'BC + ABC
These three terms can be used to define the function F.
But we can further simplify it by using ‘don’t care’ terms.

Case 1: assign ‘0’ on X’s in the table

F = A' B ' C '+ A' BC + ABC = A' B ' C '+ BC

Case 2: assign ‘1’ to the first X and ‘0’ to the second ‘X’

F = A' B ' C '+ A' B ' C + A' BC + ABC = A' B '+ BC Note:
Arbitrary values (0 or 1)
can be assigned for ‘X’
Case 3: assign ‘1’ on X’s

F = A' B' C '+ A' B' C + A' BC + ABC '+ ABC = A' B'+ BC+ AB

à Compare all possible cases, and then determine the simplest function (case 2, here)
4.5 Incompletely Specified Functions

Minterm expansion for incompletely specified function

F = å m(0,3,7) + å d (1,6) Don’t Care

Maxterm expansion for incompletely specified function

F = Õ M (2,4,5)·Õ D(1,6)

The terms in d or D can be chosen in our discretion (but smartly) to simplify the function F.
 4.6 Examples of Truth Table Construction

Example 1: Binary Adder Truth Table with 2-bit output

a b Sum
A B X Y
0 0 00 0+0=0 0 0 0 0
0 1 01 0+1=1 0 1 0 1
1 0 01 1+0=1
1 0 0 1
1 1 10 1+1=2
1 1 1 0

Logic design

X = AB, Y = A' B + AB ' = A Å B

 4.6 Examples of Truth Table Construction

Example 2: 2-bit binary Adder

N 3 = N1 + N 2

X (A,B ,C ,D ) =å m(7,10,11,13,14,15)
Y (A,B ,C ,D ) = å m (2,3,5,6,8,9,12,15)
Z (A,B ,C ,D ) = å m (1,3,4,6,9,11,12,14)
 4.7 Design of Binary Adders and Subtracters
Parallel Adder for 4 bit Binary Numbers

A direct way to make the parallel adder (Method 1):

(1) Make a truth table for 9-input and 5-output variables
(2) Derive a logic expression
(3) Simplify
(4) Make a logic circuit
à Difficult and complex

Parallel adder composed of four full adders (Method 2)

e.g.)

(=A)
(=B)

This should be connected back if we assume 1’s complement

numbers (recall UNIT1)
4.7 Design of Binary Adders and Subtracters

A Single Full Adder Truth Table for a Full Adder

X Y Cin Cout Sum
0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 1
0 1 0 0 1
0 1 1 1 0
1 0 0 0 1
1 0 1 1 0
1 1 0 1 0
1 1 1 1 1

Sum = X ' Y ' Cin + X ' YC 'in + XY ' C 'in + XYCin

= X ' (Y ' Cin + YC 'in ) + X (Y ' C 'in +YCin )
= X ' (Y Å Cin ) + X (Y Å Cin )' = X Å Y Å Cin
Cout = X ' YCin + XY ' Cin + XYC 'in + XYCin
= ( X ' YCin + XYCin ) + ( XY ' Cin + XYCin ) + ( XYC 'in + XYCin ) (intentional addition)

= YCin + XCin + XY
4.7 Design of Binary Adders and Subtracters

Logic circuit of a single full adder

Sum = X ÅY Å Cin

Cout = YCin + XCin + XY

4.7 Design of Binary Adders and Subtracters

When 1’s complement numbers are used, the end-around carry is

accomplished by connecting C4 to C0 input.

If we compute with 2’s complement numbers, the dotted connection

should be discarded.
 4.7 Design of Binary Adders and Subtracters

For the addition of signed binary numbers (i.e. 1’s or 2’s complement),
the overflow makes an incorrect result in the sign bit of the sum.

2’s +5 0101
complement +6 0110
Incorrect answer because of overflow
1011 (à the sign bit is changed to negative)
-5 1011
-6 1010
Incorrect answer because of overflow
(1)0101
(à the sign bit is changed to positive)

We can design a function (V) to detect the overflow (i.e. error)

à The overflow occurs when the addition of two positive numbers makes a negative result or
when the addition of two negative numbers makes positive

V = A'3 B'3 S3 + A3 B3 S '3 The function V reports an error when V=1.

(i.e. works as an error detector)
 4.7 Design of Binary Adders and Subtracters
Subtraction of binary numbers
à We can utilize adders: i.e. the addition of A and (-B)
e.g. A – B = A+(-B) where -B is B’s complement number

Binary Subtracter using Full Adders (Method 1) (Here, let’s assume 2’s complement number
system)

B4B3B2B1 à B4’B3’B2’B1’ +1

The 2’s complement of B can be obtained by: (1) finding the 1’s complement and then (2) adding 1.
 4.7 Design of Binary Adders and Subtracters
Parallel Subtracter Direct subtraction in each digit using a “borrow” signal (bi+1) (Method 2)

c.f.) Decimal subtraction Truth Table for a Full Subtracter

xi
bi=1
(xi – bi) – yi = di.
327 (because of 17-9) (1) If di ³ 0, a borrow signal bi +1 = 0.
– 19 bi+1=0 (2) If di < 0, a borrow signal bi +1 = 1.
308 yi
For the case (2), (10 + xi – bi) – yi = di.
di
Verify the truth table by yourself