Lecture -1
Logic Gates & Boolean Algebra
Logic Gates
• Logic Gates are the basic building blocks of any digital system.
• A logic gate can have one or more than one input but only one output.
• The relationship between the input/s and the output is based on a certain logic.
• The gates are named based on the logic.
Basic Logic Gates
• NOT gate
• AND gate
• OR gate
Universal Logic Gates
• NAND gate
• NOR gate
Exclusive Logic Gates
• XOR gate
• XNOR gate
NOT Gate (Inverter)
• The output an inverter (NOT gate) is the opposite of its output
AND Gate
• The output an AND gate is HIGH only when both the inputs are HIGH.
OR Gate
• The output an OR gate is HIGH when anyone or both the inputs are HIGH.
NAND Gate
• The output of a NAND gate is HIGH whenever one or more inputs are LOW.
NOR Gate
• The output of a NOR gate is LOW whenever one or more inputs are HIGH.
XOR Gate
• The output of a XOR gate is gate is HIGH whenever the two inputs are different.
Two circuits are supposed to work parallelly in a process.
If any of the circuit fails an indicator is activated.
XNOR Gate
• The output of a XNOR gate is gate is HIGH whenever the two inputs are same.
Boolean Algebra
• Boolean Variable: These are variables which can either take the value 1 or 0.
• Boolean Logic Expression: A Boolean logic expression is an expression constituted of only
Boolean variables. The output of a Boolean logic expression is a Boolean value i.e. either
True/False.
• Boolean Algebra: It is the mathematics of digital logic. Usually Boolean algebra is used to
simplify Boolean expressions or Boolean Function.
Laws of Boolean Algebra
Commutative Law:
• The commutative law for addition can be written as 𝐀+𝐁=𝐁+𝐀
• The commutative law for multiplication can be written as 𝐀𝐁=𝐁𝐀
Laws of Boolean Algebra
Associative Law:
• The associative law of addition for three variables is written as 𝐀+(𝐁+𝐂)=(𝐀+𝐁)+𝐂
• The associative law of multiplication for three variables is written as 𝐀(𝐁𝐂)=(𝐀𝐁)𝐂
Laws of Boolean Algebra
Distributive Law:
• The distributive law for three variables is written as 𝐀(𝐁+𝐂)=𝐀𝐁+𝐀𝐂
Rules of Boolean Algebra
De Morgan’s Theorem
The first theorem is stated as follows:
• The complement of a product of variables is equal to the sum of the complements of
complements of the variable.
• The formula of this theorem for two variables is written as:
𝐗𝐘 = 𝐗 + 𝐘
De Morgan’s Theorem
The second theorem is stated as follows:
• The complement of a sum of variables is equal to the product of the complements of the
variables.
• The formula of this theorem for two variables is written as:
𝐗 + 𝐘 = 𝐗𝐘
Application of De Morgan’s Theorem
Application of De Morgan’s Theorem
Boolean Analysis of Logic Circuit
Boolean algebra provides a concise way to express the operation of a logic circuit formed by
a combination of logic gates so that the output can be determined for various combinations
of input values.
• A logic circuit can be expressed by Boolean expression and Boolean expression can be
implemented by a logic circuit.
• The following Boolean expression can be implemented by the logic circuit below:
𝐀(𝐁 + 𝐂𝐃)
Constructing a Truth-table from a Boolean Expression
• Once we have the Boolean expression
describing a process or a logical circuit, a
truth-table to show the operation for all 𝐀(𝐁 + 𝐂𝐃)
possible combination can be constructed.
• First, we need to determine the number of
inputs in the expression.
• Then, we need to note down all possible
combination of the inputs.
• Lastly, we will evaluation the expression for
all possible combination.
Logic Simplification
• We know that a Boolean expression can be implemented by a logical circuit.
• A large Boolean expression can often be simplified to a simpler and shorter expression.
• This is done by applying the laws and rules of Boolean algebra.
• Simplifying makes implementation simpler and thus requires lesser number of gates.
• Boolean algebra can be used to simplify the following expression:
𝐀𝐁 + 𝐀 𝐁 + 𝐂 + 𝐁 𝐁 + 𝐂
• The simplified expression is:
𝐁 + 𝐀𝐂
Logic Simplification
***Applying rules of Boolean algebra and
DeMorgan’s Theorem show that:
i) MN+𝐌𝐎 + 𝐌𝐍 ഥ 𝐎 𝐌𝐍 + 𝐎 = 𝟏
ഥ 𝐁𝐂ത + 𝐀
ii) 𝐀 ഥ 𝐁𝐂 + 𝐀𝐁𝐂ത + 𝐀𝐁𝐂 = 𝐁
References
1. Thomas L. Floyd, “Digital Fundamentals” 11th edition, Prentice Hall – Pearson Education.
