LECTURE 5

Standard Forms of Boolean

Expressions

The Sum-of-Product (SOP)

Form
Two

standard forms

Sum-of-products (SOP) form

Product-of-sums (POS) form

Standardization

Evaluation, simplification and implementation of

boolean expressions become more systematic,
easy

SOP Form
Product

term : a term that consists of the

product of literals
Sum-of-products (SOP) : sum of two or more
product terms
Example :
AB + ABC
literal

Product term

Sum-of-products

SOP Form
SOP

can contain single variable term;

> A + BC + ABC
A single overbar cannot extend over more
than one variable, although more than one
variable in a term can have an overbar;
> ABC but not ABC

Domain of a Boolean
Expression
Domain

: set of variables contained in the

expression in either complemented or
uncomplemented form.
Example:
AB+ABC

Domain: A, B, C

ABC+CDE+BCD

Domain: A, B, C, D, E

AND/OR Implementation of an
SOP expression

X=AB+BCD+AC

AB

B
B
C
D
A

BCD

X = AB + BCD + AC

AC

Y=A + BD + BC + CD

Conversion of a General
Expression to SOP Form
Any logic expression can be change into SOP form by
applying Boolean Algebra techniques
Example:

A B CD AB ACD

Try This:

A B C

A B C
A B C
AC BC

The Standard SOP Form

SOP expressions

ABC + ABD + ABCD

Domain:

Standard SOP expressionan expression where all

the variables in the domain appear in each of its
product term.
Examples: ABC + ABC+ ABC
XYZ + XYZ
Important in:
- Constructing truth tables
- Karnaugh Map simplification method

Conversion of a SOP expression to Standard

SOP expression

A nonstandard SOP expression is converted into standard form

using Boolean Algebra Rule 6 ( A + A = 1)
Example: A + B
Step 1 : Step 1: Multiply each nonstandard product term by 1
A+B = A1 + B
Step 2: Replace 1 by the sum of a missing variable and its
complement
= A(B+B) + B
= AB + AB + B
Step 3: Repeat Steps 1,2 until all product terms contain all
variables in the domain

Conversion of a SOP expression to Standard

SOP expression
A+B = A1 + B

= A(B+B) + B
= AB + AB + B
=AB + AB + B1
=AB + AB + B(A+A)
=AB + AB + AB +AB

A+B= AB + AB + AB
Example 2 :

ABC + AB + ABCD

ABC + AB + ABCD = A B C D + A B C D + A B C D + A B C D + A B C D +
AB C D + AB C D

The Products-of-Sum (POS)

Form

Sum term : a term that consists of the sum of literals

Product-of-sums : multiplication of two or more sum
terms
Example:

A B A B C
A B A B C A C
A BC

A BC

The Products-of-Sum (POS)

Form

Implementation of the POS expression

(A + B)(B + C + D)(A + C)

A
B
B
C
D

X = (A + B)(B + C + D)(A + C)

A
C

OR/AND Implementation

Standard POS Expression

An

expression where all of the variables in

the domain appear in each of its sum term.
(A+B+D)(A+B+C) is not a standard POS
expression.
A nonstandard POS expression is converted
into standard form using Boolean algebra
Rule 8 ( A .A = 0)

Conversion of a POS expression to Standard

POS expression
Step

1: Add to each nonstandard product

term 0.
Step 2: Replace 0 by a product of a
missing variable and its
complement. ( A .A = 0)
Step 3: Apply rule 12: A+BC=(A+B)(A+C)
Step 4: Repeat Steps 1,2,3 until each
product term contains all variables
in the domain.

The Standard POS Form

A B C B C D A B C D
D

Rule 12!

A B C DD
B C D AA
A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D A B C D

Binary Representation
Sum-of-Products

(SOP)

An SOP expression is equal to 1 only if one or

more of its product terms is equal to 1.
ABCD = 1 .0.1.0 = 1.1.1.1 = 1

Product-of-Sums

(POS)

- A POS expression is equal to 0 only if one

or more of its sum terms is equal to 0.

A+B+C+D = 0 + 1+ 0 + 1 = 0 + 0 + 0 +0

Converting Standard SOP to

Standard POS

Step 1: For each product term of the SOP

expression, determine the binary
number that represent the product term.
Step 2: Determine all the binary numbers not
obtained in Step 1.
Step 3: Write the equivalent sum term for
each binary number obtained in Step 2.

- Use similar procedure to convert POS to SOP

17

Converting Standard SOP to

Standard POS
Example:

Express them in POS form

A B C + A B C + A B C + A B C + A BC

Step 1:

Since there are 3 variables ,there are total of 8 possible

combination -> 23 = 8
Binary number : 000 + 010 + 011 + 101 + 111( sum term = 1)

Step 2 :

Step 3:

Binary not obtained: 001, 100 , 110 ( sum term = 0 )

Equivalent binary expression obtained in step 2:

( A + B+ C )(A + B + C )( A + B + C )
These are the POS expression.

Converting SOP to Truth Table

Examine each of the products to determine where
the product is equal to a 1.
Set the remaining row outputs to 0.

Converting POS to Truth Table

Opposite process from the SOP expressions.
Each sum term results in a 0.
Set the remaining row outputs to 1.

Converting from Truth Table to SOP and POS

Inputs

Output

X ABC A BC ABC ABC

X A B C A B C A B C A B C