Dr.

N Ditshego
Lecturer
Department of Electrical Engineering
University of Botswana

Office No: 248/213

Ext: 4229
Email: [email protected]

EEB 341
DIGITAL ELECTRONICS

CHAPTER 4
KARNAUGH MAPS
1
• A Kmap has a cell for each
minterm.
• This means that it has a cell
for each line for the truth table
of a function.
• The truth table for the function
F(x,y) = xy is shown at the
right along with its
corresponding Kmap.
• As another example, we
give the truth table and
KMap for the function,
F(x,y) = x + y at the right.
• This function is equivalent
to the OR of all of the
minterms that have a value
of 1. Thus:

3
 • Karnaugh maps, or K-maps, are often used to simplify logic problems with 2, 3
or 4 variables.

Cell = 2n ,where n is a number of variables

For the case of 2 variables, we form a map consisting of 22=4 cells

as shown in Figure
A A A
0 1 0 1 0 1
B B B
00 10
0 A B A  B 0 0 2 0 AB AB
01 11
1 A B A  B 1
1 3
1
A B AB
Maxterm Minterm

4
• The best way of selecting two groups of 1s
form our simple Kmap is shown below.
• We see that both groups are powers of two
and that the groups overlap.
• The next slide gives guidance for selecting
Kmap groups.

5
Example
2-variable Karnaugh maps are trivial but can be used to introduce
the methods you need to learn. The map for a 2-input OR gate
looks like this:
A
0 1
B
0 1
A
1 1 1
A B Y
0 0 0
B
0 1 1
1 0 1
A+B
1 1 1
Example
AC
A B C Y
0 0 0 1 AB
C 00 01 11 10
0 0 1 1
0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1
0 1 1 0
1 0 0 1 1 1 1
1 0 1 1
1 1 0 1
B
B  AC
1 1 1 0
The rules of Kmap simplification are:
• Groupings can contain only 1s; no 0s.
• Groups can be formed only at right angles;
diagonal groups are not allowed.
• The number of 1s in a group must be a power
of 2 – even if it contains a single 1.
• The groups must be made as large as possible.
• Groups can overlap and wrap around the sides
of the Kmap.

8
• A Kmap for three variables is constructed as
shown in the diagram below.
• We have placed each minterm in the cell that will
hold its value.
• Notice that the values for the yz combination at the top
of the matrix form a pattern that is not a normal binary
sequence.

9
• Thus, the first row of the Kmap contains all
minterms where x has a value of zero.
• The first column contains all minterms where y
and z both have a value of zero.

10
• Consider the function:

• Its Kmap is given below.

• What is the largest group of 1s that is a power of 2?

11
• This grouping tells us that changes in the
variables x and y have no influence upon the
value of the function: They are irrelevant.
• This means that the function,

reduces to F(x) = z.

You could verify

this reduction
with identities or
a truth table.

12
• Now for a more complicated Kmap. Consider the
function:

• Its Kmap is shown below. There are (only) two

groupings of 1s.
• Can you find them?

13
• In this Kmap, we see an example of a group that
wraps around the sides of a Kmap.
• This group tells us that the values of x and y are not
relevant to the term of the function that is
encompassed by the group.
• What does this tell us about this term of the function?

What about the

green group in
the top row?

14
• The green group in the top row tells us that only the
value of x is significant in that group.
• We see that it is complemented in that row, so the
other term of the reduced function is .
• Our reduced function is:

Recall that we had

six minterms in our
original function!

15
• Our model can be extended to accommodate the 16
minterms that are produced by a four-input function.
• This is the format for a 16-minterm Kmap.

16
• We have populated the Kmap shown below with the
nonzero minterms from the function:

• Can you identify (only) three groups in this Kmap?

Recall that
groups can
overlap.

17
• Our three groups consist of:
• A purple group entirely within the Kmap at the right.
• A pink group that wraps the top and bottom.
• A green group that spans the corners.
• Thus we have three terms in our final function:

18
• It is possible to have a choice as to how to pick
groups within a Kmap, while keeping the groups
as large as possible.
• The (different) functions that result from the
groupings below are logically equivalent.

19
 Don’t Care Conditions
• Real circuits don’t always need to have an output
defined for every possible input.
• For example, some calculator displays consist of 7-
segment LEDs. These LEDs can display 2 7 -1 patterns,
but only ten of them are useful.
• If a circuit is designed so that a particular set of
inputs can never happen, we call this set of inputs
a don’t care condition.
• They are very helpful to us in Kmap circuit
simplification.

20
21
Don’t care term

AB
CD 00 01 11 10
X
00

01
X 1

11 X X

10 X X

AD