Min Terms and Maxterms
Min Terms and Maxterms
December 6, 2022 1
Minterms and Maxterms
Each maxterm is the complement of its corresponding
minterm, and vice versa.
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Minterms and Maxterms
An Boolean function can be expressed by
A truth table
Sum of minterms
f1 = x'y'z + xy'z' + xyz = m1 + m4 +m7 (Minterms)
f2 = x'yz+ xy'z + xyz'+xyz = m3 + m5 +m6 + m7 (Minterms)
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Minterms and Maxterms
The complement of a Boolean function
The minterms that produce a 0
f1' = m0 + m2 +m3 + m5 + m6
= x'y'z'+x'yz'+x'yz+xy'z+xyz'
f1 = (f1')'
= (x+y+z)(x+y'+z) (x+y'+z') (x'+y+z')(x'+y'+z)
= M0 M2 M3 M5 M6
f2 = (x+y+z)(x+y+z')(x+y'+z)(x'+y+z)
=M0M1M2M4
Any Boolean function can be expressed as
A sum of minterms (“sum” meaning the ORing of terms).
A product of maxterms (“product” meaning the ANDing of terms).
Both boolean functions are said to be in Canonical form.
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Sum of Minterms
Sum of minterms: there are 2n minterms and 22n
combinations of function with n Boolean variables.
Example 2.4: express F = A+BC' as a sum of minterms.
F = A+B'C
= A (B+B') + B'C
= AB +AB' + B'C
= AB(C+C') + AB'(C+C') + (A+A')B'C
= ABC+ABC'+AB'C+AB'C'+A'B'C
F = A'B'C +AB'C' +AB'C+ABC'+ ABC
= m1 + m4 +m5 + m6 + m7
F(A, B, C) = (1, 4, 5, 6, 7)
or, built the truth table first
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Product of Maxterms
Product of maxterms: using distributive law to expand.
x + yz
= (x + y)(x + z)
= (x+y+zz')(x+z+yy')
= (x+y+z)(x+y+z')(x+y'+z)
Example 2.5: express F = xy + x'z as a product of maxterms.
F = xy + x'z
= (xy + x')(xy +z)
= (x+x')(y+x')(x+z)(y+z)
= (x'+y)(x+z)(y+z)
x'+y
= x' + y + zz'
= (x'+y+z)(x'+y+z')
F = (x+y+z)(x+y'+z)(x'+y+z)(x'+y+z') = M M M M
0 2 4 5
F(x, y, z) = (0, 2, 4, 5)
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Conversion between Canonical Forms
The complement of a function expressed as the sum of
minterms equals the sum of minterms missing from the
original function.
F(A, B, C) = (1, 4, 5, 6, 7)
Thus, F'(A, B, C) = (0, 2, 3)
By DeMorgan's theorem
F(A, B, C) = (0, 2, 3)
F'(A, B, C) =(1, 4, 5, 6, 7)
mj ' = M j
Sum of minterms = product of maxterms
Interchange the symbols and and list those numbers
missing from the original form
of 1's
of 0's
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Example
F = xy + xz
F(x, y, z) = (1, 3, 6, 7)
F(x, y, z) = (0, 2, 4, 6)
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Standard Forms
Canonical forms are very seldom the ones with the
least number of literals.
Standard forms: the terms that form the function may
obtain one, two, or any number of literals.
Sum of products: F1 = y' + xy+ x'yz'
Product of sums: F2 = x(y'+z)(x'+y+z')
F3 = A'B'CD+ABC'D'
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Implementation
Two-level implementation
Multi-level implementation
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