Tabulation Method
The Quine-McCluskey Method
K-map going big!
6 variable k-map
• K-map works well upto 4 variable, but when number of variable is
more than that trouble starts as it gets difficult to recognize patters
leading to wrong selection
• Quine McCluskey method or the tabulation method is more
systematic and works well for any number of variable
Part 1:Determination of the prime
implicant
Forming the tabulation method
Example
F(w,x,y,z)=∑(4,1,7,6,9,8,11,15,10)
Step 1: group the minterms based on the no. of ‘1’s in them
Group A: single ‘1’: {0001,0100,1000}
Group B: two ‘1’s: {0110,1001,1010}
Group C: three ‘1’s: {0111,1011}
Group D:four ‘1’s: {1111}
Step 1
1 0001
4 0100
8 1000
6 0110
9 1001
10 1010
7 0111
11 1011
15 1111
• Step 2: Any 2 minterm that differ by 1 variable is combined and the
different variable is removed.The minterms of a group is compared
with minterms of immediate next group (this is because 2 term
differing by more than 1 bit cannot match). If 2 matching minterms
are found, a ‘√’ (tick) is place besides them
Step 1 Step 2
1 0001 (1,9) _001
4 0100 (4,6) 01_ 0
8 1000 (8,9) 100_
(8,10) 10_0
6 0110 (6,7) 011_
9 1001 (9,11) 10_1
10 1010 (10,11) 101_
7 0111 (7,15) _111
11 1011 (11,15) 1_11
15 1111
• Step 3:
Terms from step 2 has 3 options. ‘1’ means variable is unprimed, ‘0’
means variable is primed and ‘_’ means variable is not included in the
term.
Now compare terms only if they have ‘_’ in the same position. Once
two term match place a ‘√’ beside each
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3
1 0001 √ (1,9) _001 (8,9,10,11) 10_ _
4 0100 √ (4,6) 01_ 0 (8,9,10,11) 10_ _
8 1000 √ (8,9) 100_ √
(8,10) 10_0 √
6 0110 √ (6,7) 011_
9 1001 √ (9,11) 10_1 √
10 1010 √ (10,11) 101_ √
7 0111 √ (7,15) _111
11 1011 √ (11,15) 1_11
15 1111 √
Prime Implicant
• The remaining term ( those without ‘√’) in Step 2 and the terms
from Step 3 are called the prime implcants. These terms are
candidates suitable for forming the simplified form of the
expression
Here prime implicants are:
(1,9) _001 X’Y’Z
(4,6) 01_0 W’XZ’
(6,7) 011_ W’XY
(7,15) _111 XYZ
(11,15) 1_11 WYZ
(8,9,10,11) 10_ _ WX’
• K-MAP using prime implicant shows that it can be further simplified
to
F(w,x,y,z)= X’Y’Z+W’XZ’+XYZ+WX’
To achieve further simplification we need to
find the essential prime implicant and
remove the domination rows and dominated
columns.
Part 2: Selection of prime
implicants- the setup
Optimizing the tabular method
So solution is
F(W,X,Y,Z)= X’Y’Z+W’XZ’+WX’+XYZ
This matched the result from K-MAP!
Example 2
F(a,b,c,d)=∑m(2,5,6,11,12,14,15)+ ∑d(0,3,4)
Note: avoid the don’t care terms in the set-up(optimization) phase.
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3
0 0000 √ (0,2) 00-0 √ (0,2,4,6) 0--0
(0,4) 0-00 √ (0,4,2.6) 0--0
2 0010 √ (2,3) 001- (4,6,12,14) -1-0
4 0100 √ (2,6) 0-10 √ (4,12,6,14) -1-0
(4,5) 010-
(4,6) 01-0 √
(4,12) -100 √
3 0011 √ (3,11) -011
5 0101 √ (6,14) -110 √
6 0110 √ (12,14) 11-0 √
12 1100 √
11 1011 √ (11,15) 1-11
14 1110 √ (14,15) 111-
15 1111 √
Don’t care terms are avoided here.
So solution is
F(W,X,Y,Z)= BD’+A’BC’+ A’D’+ ACD
Try it yourself
• F(w,x,y,z)=∑(0,1,2,8,10,11,14,15)
Solution
Prime implicant optimization
F=w’x’y’+x’z’+wy W’X’Y’ X’Z’ WY
0000 1 1
0001 1
0010 1
1000 1
1010 1 1
1011 1
1110 1
1111 1
All rows have single ‘1’, so all are essential prime implicant hence no further
optimization can be done. Answer is:
F=w’x’y’+x’z’+wy