Chapter 3 Special Section

Focus on Karnaugh Maps

 3A.1 Introduction

• Simplification of Boolean functions leads to

simpler (and usually faster) digital circuits.
• Simplifying Boolean functions using identities is
time-consuming and error-prone.
• This special section presents an easy,
systematic method for reducing Boolean
expressions.

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 3A.1 Introduction

• In 1953, Maurice Karnaugh was a

telecommunications engineer at Bell Labs.
• While exploring the new field of digital logic and its
application to the design of telephone circuits, he
invented a graphical way of visualizing and then
simplifying Boolean expressions.
• This graphical representation, now known as a
Karnaugh map, or Kmap, is named in his honor.

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 3A.2 Description of Kmaps
and Terminology
• A Kmap is a matrix consisting of rows and
columns that represent the output values of a
Boolean function.
• The output values placed in each cell are derived
from the minterms of a Boolean function.
• A minterm is a product term that contains all of
the function’s variables exactly once, either
complemented or not complemented.

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 3A.2 Description of Kmaps
and Terminology
• For example, the minterms for a function having
the inputs x and y are:
• Consider the Boolean function,
• Its minterms are:

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 3A.2 Description of Kmaps
and Terminology
• Similarly, a function
having three inputs,
has the minterms
that are shown in
this diagram.

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 3A.2 Description of Kmaps
and Terminology
• 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.

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 3A.2 Description of Kmaps
and Terminology
• 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:

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 3A.3 Kmap Simplification
for Two Variables
• Of course, the minterm function that we derived
from our Kmap was not in simplest terms.
– That’s what we started with in this example.
• We can, however, reduce our complicated
expression to its simplest terms by finding adjacent
1s in the Kmap that can be collected into groups
that are powers of two.
• In our example, we have two
such groups.
– Can you find them?

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 3A.3 Kmap Simplification
for Two Variables
• 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.

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 3A.3 Kmap Simplification
for Two Variables
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.

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 3A.3 Kmap Simplification
for Three Variables
• 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.

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 3A.3 Kmap Simplification
for Three Variables
• 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.

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 3A.3 Kmap Simplification
for Three Variables
• Consider the function:

• Its Kmap is given below.

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

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 3A.3 Kmap Simplification
for Three Variables
• 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.

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 3A.3 Kmap Simplification
for Three Variables
• 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?

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 3A.3 Kmap Simplification
for Three Variables
• 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?

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 3A.3 Kmap Simplification
for Three Variables

• 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!

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 3A.3 Kmap Simplification for Four
Variables
• 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.

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 3A.3 Kmap Simplification for Four
Variables
• 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.

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 3A.3 Kmap Simplification for Four
Variables
• 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:

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 3A.3 Kmap Simplification for Four
Variables
• 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.

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 3A.6 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.

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 3A.6 Don’t Care Conditions
• In a Kmap, a don’t care condition is identified by
an X in the cell of the minterm(s) for the don’t care
inputs, as shown below.
• In performing the simplification, we are free to
include or ignore the X’s when creating our
groups.

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 3A.6 Don’t Care Conditions

• In one grouping in the Kmap below, we have the

function:

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 3A.6 Don’t Care Conditions

• A different grouping gives us the function:

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 3A.6 Don’t Care Conditions
• The truth table of:

differs from the truth table of:

• However, the values for which they differ, are the

inputs for which we have don’t care conditions.

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 3A Conclusion

• Kmaps provide an easy graphical method of

simplifying Boolean expressions.
• A Kmap is a matrix consisting of the outputs of
the minterms of a Boolean function.
• In this section, we have discussed 2- 3- and 4-
input Kmaps. This method can be extended to
any number of inputs through the use of multiple
tables.

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 3A Conclusion
Recapping the rules of Kmap simplification:
• 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.
• Use don’t care conditions when you can.

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 End of Chapter 3A

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