Product of Sums (POS) Form

The product of sums form is a method (or form) of simplifying the Boolean expressions of logic
gates. In this POS form, all the variables are ORed, i.e. written as sums to form sum terms.
All these sum terms are ANDed (multiplied) together to get the product-of-sum form. This form
is exactly opposite to the SOP form. So this can also be said as “Dual of SOP form”.
Here the sum terms are defined by using the OR operation and the product term is defined by
using AND operation. When two or more sum terms are multiplied by a Boolean OR operation,
the resultant output expression will be in the form of product-of-sums form or POS form.
The product-of-sums form is also called as Conjunctive Normal Form as the sum terms are
ANDed together and Conjunction operation is logical AND. Product-of-sums form is also called
as Standard POS.

Examples
(A+B) * (A + B + C) * (C +D)
(A+B) ̅ * (C + D + E ̅)

POS form can be obtained by

Writing an OR term for each input combination, which produces LOW output.
Writing the input variables if the value is 0, and write the complement of the variable if its
value is 1.
AND the OR terms to obtain the output function.
Ex: Boolean expression for majority function
F = (A + B + C) (A + B + C ‘) (A + B’ + C) (A’ + B + C)

Now write the input variables combination with high output. F = AB + BC + AC.
Checking
By Idempotence law, we know that
[(A + B + C) (A + B + C)] (A + B + C) = [(A + B + C)] (A + B + C) = (A + B + C)
Now the function
F = (A + B) (B + C) (A + C)
= (A + B + C) (A + B + C ‘) (A + B’ + C) (A’ + B + C)
= [(A + B + C) (A + B + C)] (A + B + C) (A + B + C ‘) (A + B’ + C) (A’ + B + C)
= [(A + B + C) (A + B + C ‘)] [(A + B + C) (A’ + B + C)] [(A + B + C) (A + B’ + C)]
= [(A + B) + (C * C ‘)] [(B + C) + (A * A’)] [(A + C) + (B * B’)]
= [(A + B) + 0] [(B + C) + 0] [(A + C) + 0] = (A + B) (B + C) (A + C)
Conversions of Canonical Forms
We can represent the one canonical formed equation in other canonical form i.e. we can
represent the SOP form of equation in POS form and POS form equation in SOP form. To
convert the canonical equations, we interchange the Σ and Π symbols after listing out the index
numbers of the equations, which are excluded from the original form of equation.
The important thing to remember about Boolean functions is that, the SOP and POS forms are
Duals to each other. There are 2 steps to follow to convert the canonical form of the equations.
They are

Step 1: Interchanging the operational symbols, Σ and Π in the equation.

Step 2: Use the De Morgan’s principle of Duality to the index numbers of the Boolean function
or writing the indexes of the terms that are not presented in the given form of equation.

Conversion of SOP form to POS form

To convert the SOP form into POS form, first we should change the Σ to Π and then write the
numeric indexes of missing variables of the given Boolean function.

Example:
The SOP function
F = ∑ A, B, C (0, 2, 3, 5, 7) = A’ B’ C’ + A B’ C’ + A B’ C + ABC’ + ABC is written in POS
form by
Step 1: changing the operational sign to Π

Step 2: writing the missing indexes of the terms, 001, 100 and 110. Now write the sum form for
these noted terms.

001 = (A + B + C) 100 = (A + B’ + C’) 110 = (A + B’ + C’)

Writing down the new equation in the form of POS form,

F = Π A, B, C (1, 4, 6) = (A + B + C) * (A + B’ + C’) * (A + B’ + C’)

Conversion of POS form to SOP form

To convert the POS form into SOP form, first we should change the Π to Σ and then write the
numeric indexes of missing variables of the given Boolean function.
Ex: The POS function F = Π A, B, C (2, 3, 5) = A B’ C’ + A B’ C + ABC’ is written in SOP
form by

Step 1: changing the operational sign to Σ

Step 2: writing the missing indexes of the terms, 000, 001, 100, 110, and 111. Now write the
product form for these noted terms.

000 = A’ * B’ * C’ 001 = A’ * B’ * C 100 = A * B’ * C’

110 = A * B* C’ 111 = A * B * C
Writing down the new equation in the form of SOP form,
F = Σ A, B, C (0, 1, 4, 6, 7) = (A’ * B’ * C’) + (A’ * B’ * C) + (A * B’ * C’) + (A * B* C’) + (A
* B * C)
Conversion of SOP form to standard SOP form or Canonical SOP form
We can include all the variables in each product term of the SOP form equation, which doesn’t
have all the variables by converting into standard SOP form. The normal SOP form function can
be converted to standard SOP form by using the Boolean algebraic law, (A + A’ = 1) and by
following the below steps.

Step 1:
By multiplying each non-standard product term with the sum of its missing variable and its
complement, which results in 2 product terms

Step 2:
By repeating the step 1, until all resulting product terms contain all variables
By these two steps we can convert the SOP function into standard SOP function. In this process,
for each missing variable in the function, the number of product terms will double.

Example:
Convert the non standard SOP function F = x y + x z + y z
Sol:
F=xy+xz+yz
= x y (z + z’) + x (y + y’) z + (x + x’) y z
= x y z + x y z’ + x y z + x y’ z + x y z + x’ y z
= x y z + x y z’ + x y’ z + x’ y z

The standard SOP form is F = x y z + x y z’ + x y’ z + x’ y z

Conversion of POS form to standard POS form or Canonical POS form

We can include all the variables in each product term of the POS form equation, which doesn’t
have all the variables by converting into standard POS form. The normal POS form function can
be converted to standard POS form by using the Boolean algebraic law, (A * A’ = 0) and by
following the below steps.

Step 1:
By adding each non-standard sum term to the product of its missing variable and its complement,
which results in 2 sum terms

Step 2:
Applying Boolean algebraic law, A + BC = (A + B) * (A + C)

Step 3:
By repeating the step 1, until all resulting sum terms contain all variables
By these three steps we can convert the POS function into standard POS function.
Example:
F = (A’ + B + C) * (B’ + C + D’) * (A + B’ + C’ + D)
In the first term, the variable D or D’ is missing, so we add D*D’ = 1 to it. Then
(A’ + B + C + D*D’) = (A’ + B + C + D) * (A’ + B + C + D’)
Similarly, in the second term, the variable A or A’ is missing, so we add A*A’ = 1 to it. Then
(B’ + C + D’ + A*A’) = (A + B’ + C + D’) * (A’ + B’ + C + D’)
The third term is already in the standard form, as it has all the variables. Now the standard POS
form equation of the function is
F = (A’ + B + C + D) * (A’ + B + C + D’) * (A + B’ + C + D’) * (A’ + B’ + C + D’) * (A + B’ + C’ + D)

References
www.geekforgeek.org
https://www.electronicshub.org/boolean-logic-sop-form-pos-form/