Boolean Expressions

Normal Form
SOP/POS
November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj
1
 Consider a set of variables (or letters or symbols),
say

A Boolean expression in these variables,

sometimes written is

any variable or any expression built from the variables

using the Boolean operations +, *, and ‘.

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

2
 Literal

A literal is a variable or
complemented variable,
e.g., , , , .

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

3
 Fundamental Product

A literal or a product of two or more literals in

which no two literals involve the same variable.

is a fundamental product.
and are not fundamental products.

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

4
 Reduce the following Boolean products to
either 0 or a fundamental product:

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

5
 Reduce the following Boolean products to
either 0 or a fundamental product:

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

6
 Suppose and are fundamental products.

is said to be included in
or contained in if the
literals of are also
literals of

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

7
 For example, is included in since are
literals in

However, is not contained in since is not

a literal of

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

8
 Suppose P1 and P2 are fundamental products such
that P1 is contained in P2.
Show that P1+P2=P1 Give an example

Since P1 is contained in P2, we have P2=P1*Q.

Then, by the absorption law, P1+P2=P1+P1*Q=P1

For example,

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

9
 E is a sum-of-products
form or a minterm if E is:

a fundamental product, or

the sum of two or more fundamental products

none of which is included in another.

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

10
 For example, consider the expressions:

𝑬 𝟏=𝒙𝒛 ’+𝒚 ’ 𝒛+𝒙𝒚𝒛 ’

𝑬 𝟐=𝒙𝒛’+𝒙 ’ 𝒚𝒛 ’+𝒙𝒚 ’ 𝒛

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

11
 𝑬 𝟏=𝒙𝒛 ’+𝒚 ’ 𝒛+𝒙𝒚𝒛 ’
is a sum of products, it is not in a sum-
of-products form, since is contained in
.

However, by the absorption law, can be expressed as:

which is a sum-of-prodcuts form.

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

12
 𝑬 𝟐=𝒙𝒛’+𝒙 ’ 𝒚𝒛 ’+𝒙𝒚 ’ 𝒛
The second expression, , is
already in a sum-of-products
form.

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

13
 NORMAL FORM
 A function is said to be in Normal form (Complete Sum-of-
Product form), if all the terms in the Boolean function contain
all the variables.
Example:
 Normal form
 not in Normal form

 To change to Normal form:

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

14
November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj
15
 Overview

 Expressing Boolean functions.

 Relationships between algebraic equations, symbols, and
truth table.
 Minterms and Maxterms.
 AND-OR representations:
 Sum-of-product form
 Product-of-sum form

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

16
 Representation Conversion

 Need a transition between Boolean expression, truth

table, and circuit (symbols).

Boolean
Circuit Expression

Truth
Table

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

17
 Truth Table To Expression
 Converting a truth table to an expression:
 Each row with output of 1 becomes a product term.
 Sum product terms together.

x y z G Any Boolean Expression can be

0 0 0 0 represented in sum of products form!
0 0 1 0
0 1 0 0
0 1 1 1
1 0 0 0
1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1
1 1 1 1
𝒙𝒚𝒛 +𝒙𝒚𝒛 ’+𝒙 ’ 𝒚𝒛
November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj
18
 Equivalent Representations of Circuits
 All three formats are equivalent.
 Number of 1’s in truth table output column equals AND
terms for Sum-of-Products (SOP).

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

19
 As you can see, we have:
3 AND gates and 1 OR gate.

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

20
 Reducing Boolean Expressions
𝑮=𝒙𝒚𝒛 + 𝒙𝒚𝒛 ’+𝒙 ’ 𝒚𝒛
 Is this the smallest possible implementation of this
expression? No!

 Use Boolean Algebra rules to reduce complexity

while preserving functionality. (There are other
ways to simplify the expression.)

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

21
 Reducing Boolean Expressions
𝑮=𝒙𝒚𝒛 + 𝒙𝒚𝒛 ’+𝒙 ’ 𝒚𝒛
 Step 1: Use distributive law a(b + c) = ab + ac


 Step 2: Use Postulate 3 (a + a’ = 1)



 Step 3: Use Postulate 2 (a . 1 = a)



November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

22
 Reducing Boolean Expressions
𝑮=𝒙𝒚𝒛 + 𝒙𝒚𝒛 ’+𝒙 ’ 𝒚𝒛
 Step 4: Use distributive law a(b + c) = ab + ac


 Step 5: Use Theorem 5 (a + a’b = a+b)



 Step 6: Use distributive law a(b + c) = ab + ac



November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

23
 Reduced Hardware Implementation
 Reduced equation requires less hardware!
 Same function implemented!
x y z G
0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0
0 1 0 0
0 1 1 1
1 0 0 0
1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1
1 1 1 1

𝑮=𝒙𝒚𝒛 + 𝒙𝒚𝒛 ’ +𝒙 ’ 𝒚𝒛=𝒙𝒚 +𝒚𝒛

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj
24
 𝑮=𝒙𝒚 + 𝒚𝒛
As you can see, we have:
2 AND gates and 1 OR gate.

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

25
 Reduced Hardware Implementation
• Reduced equation requires less hardware!
• Same function implemented!
x y z G
0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0
0 1 0 0
0 1 1 1
1 0 0 0
1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1
1 1 1 1

𝑮=𝒙𝒚𝒛 + 𝒙𝒚𝒛 ’ + 𝒙 ’ 𝒚𝒛 =𝒙𝒚 + 𝒚𝒛 =𝒚 ( 𝒙+ 𝒛 )

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj
26
 𝑮= 𝒚 ( 𝒙 + 𝒛 )
As you can see, we have:
1 AND gate and 1 OR gate.

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

27
 Minterms And Maxterms

 Each variable in a Boolean expression is a

literal.
 Boolean variables can appear in normal () or
complement form ().
 Each AND combination of terms is a minterm.
 Each OR combination of terms is a maxterm.

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

28
 Minterms and Maxterms

For example: For example:

Minterms Maxterms

x y z Minterm x y z Maxterm
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 0 1
… …
1 0 0 1 0 0 4
… …
1 1 1 1 1 1

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

29
 Representing Functions with Minterms
 Minterm number same as row position in truth table (starting
from top from 0).
 Shorthand way to represent functions.

x y z G
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
𝑮=𝒙𝒚𝒛 + 𝒙𝒚𝒛 ’+𝒙 ’ 𝒚𝒛
0 1 0 0
0 1 1 1 𝑮=𝒎 𝟕+𝒎𝟔 +𝒎𝟑=𝚺 𝒎( 𝟑 ,𝟔 , 𝟕)
1 0 0 0
1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1
1 1 1 1

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

30
 Conversion between SOP and POS Forms

 Easy to convert between minterm and maxterm

representations.
 For maxterm representation, select rows with 0’s.

x y z G 𝑮=𝒙𝒚𝒛 + 𝒙𝒚𝒛 ’+𝒙 ’ 𝒚𝒛

0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 G = m7 + m6 + m3 = Σm(3, 6, 7)
0 1 0 0
0 1 1 1
1 0 0 0
1 0 1 0 G = M0M1M2M4M5 = ΠM(0,1,2,4,5)
1 1 0 1
1 1 1 1
G = (x+y+z)(x+y+z’)(x+y’+z)(x’+y+z)(x’+y+z’)

November 21, 2023 Digital Logic Design - Adnan Haj

31