BOOLEAN

ALGEBRA
BY HIYA CHOWDHRY
 OVERVIEW
• INTRODUCTION
• BOOLEAN BASICS
• BOOLEAN IDENTITIES
• SIGNIFICANCE
 INTRODUCTION
• DEVELOPED BY ENGLISH MATHEMATICIAN GEORGE BOOLE IN BETWEEN 1815 -
1864.
• BOOLEAN ALGEBRA IS AN ALGEBRA THAT DEALS WITH BINARY VARIABLES AND
LOGIC OPERATIONS (TRUE/FALSE).
• IN DIGITAL COMPUTERS, TRUE IS DENOTED BY 1 AND FALSE IS DENOTED BY 0.
• FOR A GIVEN VALUE OF THE VARIABLES, THE BOOLEAN FUNCTION CAN BE
EITHER 1 OR 0.
• A BOOLEAN FUNCTION CAN BE EXPRESSED ALGEBRAICALLY WITH BINARY
VARIABLES, THE LOGICAL OPERATION SYMBOLS, PARENTHESES AND THE
EQUAL SIGN.
FOR EXAMPLE,
THE BOOLEAN FUNCTION F = x + y’z
Where F is the Boolean function and x, y, z are
the binary variables.
 BOOLEAN BASICS
• THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A FUNCTION AND ITS BINARY VARIABLES CAN BE
REPRESENTED IN A TRUTH TABLE.
• THE THREE BASIC LOGICAL OPERATIONS ARE:
1. AND (.)
2. OR (+)
3. NOT / inverter (’)
 AND OPERATOR

IT PERFORMS MULTIPLICATION. Consider, example : F=X.Y (X AND Y)

X Y F=X.Y
0 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1
 OR OPERATOR

OR OPERATOR PERFORMS ADDITION. Consider, example :

F=X+Y (X OR Y).

X Y F=X+Y
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 1
1 1 1
 NOT OPERATOR
NOT OPERATOR WORKS ON A SINGLE VARIABLE AND PERFORMS
NEGATION. Consider, example : F = X’

X F=X’
0 1
1 0
 BOOLEAN IDENTITIES/LAWS
1. Properties of 0 : x + 0 = x and x . 0 = 0
2. Properties of 1 : x + 1 = 1 and x . 1 = x
3. Idempotence law : x + x = x and x . x = x
4. Complementary law : x + x’ = 1 and x . x’ = 0
5. Commutative law : x + y = y + x and x . y = y . x
6. Associative law : x + (y + z) = (x + y) + z and x(yz) = (xy)z
7. Distributive law : x(y + z) = xy + xz and x + yz = (x + y)(x + z)
8. Inverse : (x’)’ = x
9. De Morgan’s Law : (x + y)’ = x’y’ and (xy)’ = x’ + y’
 DE MORGAN’S LAW
• De Morgan’s Law or De Morgan’s Theorem is very
important in dealing with NOR and NAND gates.
• It states that a NOR gate that performs (x + y)’
function is equivalent to the function x’y’.
• Similarly, a NAND function can be expressed by
either (xy)’ or (x’ + y’).
 SIGNIFICANCE OF BOOLEAN
ALGEBRA
• We can use the Laws and Identities of Boolean
Algebra to both reduce and simplify a complex
Boolean expression in an attempt to reduce the
number of logic gates required.
 • Lets take an example :
F = ABC + ABC’ + A’C …(a)
Using Boolean identities,
F = AB(C + C’) + A’C
F = AB + A’C …(b)
 EXPLANATION
From the previous slide, we can observe that the
logic diagram of the simplified expression in fig. (b)
requires only 4 logic gates rather than the six gates
used in the logic diagram of the initial expression in
fig. (a).