Discrete Structure– COCS 222

<Boolean Algebra>
Faculty of Computing & Information
Technology- Rabigh
King Abdulaziz University

Fall 2019
 Now, something about

Boolean
Algebra
(section 10.1)

Dr. Nashwan Ahmed Discrete Structure: Boolean Algebra page 2

 Boolean Algebra
Boolean algebra provides the operations and the
rules for working with the set {0, 1}.
These are the rules that underlie electronic
circuits, and the methods we will discuss are
fundamental to VLSI design.
We are going to focus on three operations:
• Boolean complementation,
• Boolean sum, and
• Boolean product

Dr. Nashwan Ahmed Discrete Structure: Boolean Algebra page 3

 Boolean Operations
The complement is denoted by a bar (on the slides,
we will use a minus sign). It is defined by
-0 = 1 and -1 = 0.

The Boolean sum, denoted by + or by OR, has the

following values:
1 + 1 = 1, 1 + 0 = 1, 0 + 1 = 1, 0+0=0

The Boolean product, denoted by  or by AND, has

the following values:
1  1 = 1, 1  0 = 0, 0  1 = 0, 00=0

Dr. Nashwan Ahmed Discrete Structure: Boolean Algebra page 4

 Logic and Bit Operations
 Computers represent information using bits.
 A bit is a symbol with two possible values, namely, 0 (zero) and
1 (one).
 This meaning of the word bit comes from binary digit, because
zeros and ones are the digits used in binary representations of
numbers.
 A bit can be used to represent a truth value, because there are
two truth values, namely, true and false.
 As is customarily done, we will use a 1 bit to represent true and
a 0 bit to represent false.
 That is, 1 represents T (true), 0 represents F (false).
 A variable is called a Boolean variable if its value is either true
or false.
 Consequently, a Boolean variable can be represented using a bit.

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 Logic and Bit Operations
 Computer bit operations correspond to the
logical connectives.
 By replacing true by a one and false by a
zero in the truth tables for the operators
∧, ∨, and ⊕,
 The tables shown in Table 9 for the
corresponding bit operations are obtained.
 We will also use the notation +, . , and
XOR for the operators ∨,∧, and ⊕, as is
done in various programming languages

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 Logic and Bit Operations

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 Definition

A bit string is a sequence of zero

or more bits.
The length of this string is the
number of bits in the string.
EX: 101010011 is a bit string of
length nine

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 More explain
We can extend bit operations to bit strings.
We define the bitwise OR, bitwise AND, and
bitwise XOR of two strings of the same length to be
the strings that have as their bits the OR, AND, and
XOR of the corresponding bits in the two strings,
respectively.
We use the symbols ∨,∧, and ⊕to represent the
bitwise OR, bitwise AND, and bitwise XOR operations,
respectively.
We illustrate bitwise operations on bit strings with
the next example

Dr. Nashwan Ahmed Discrete Structure: Boolean Algebra page 9

 Example

Find the bitwise OR, bitwise AND,

and bitwise XOR of the bit strings
01 1011 0110 and 11 0001 1101.
(Here, and throughout this book, bit
strings will be split into blocks of
four bits to make them easier to
read.)

Dr. Nashwan Ahmed Discrete Structure: Boolean Algebra page 10

 Solution
The bitwise OR, bitwise AND, and bitwise XOR of these strings
are obtained by taking the OR, AND, and XOR of the
corresponding
bits,
respectively.
This gives us

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 Boolean Functions and Expressions
Definition: Let B = {0, 1}. The variable x is called a
Boolean variable if it assumes values only from B.
A function from Bn, the set {(x1, x2, …, xn) |xiB,
1  i  n}, to B is called a Boolean function of
degree n.

Boolean functions can be represented using

expressions made up from the variables and
Boolean operations.

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 Boolean Functions and Expressions
The Boolean expressions in the variables x1, x2, …,
xn are defined recursively as follows:
• 0, 1, x1, x2, …, xn are Boolean expressions.
• If E1 and E2 are Boolean expressions, then (-E1),
(E1E2), and (E1 + E2) are Boolean expressions.

Each Boolean expression represents a Boolean

function. The values of this function are obtained
by substituting 0 and 1 for the variables in the
expression.
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 Boolean Functions and Expressions
For example, we can create Boolean expression in
the variables x, y, and z using the “building blocks”
0, 1, x, y, and z, and the construction rules:
Since x and y are Boolean expressions, so is xy.
Since z is a Boolean expression, so is (-z).
Since xy and (-z) are expressions, so is xy + (-z).
… and so on… x = 1 y = 0 z = 1, 1 . 0 + (-1)
0+0=0

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 Boolean Functions and Expressions
Example: Give a Boolean expression for the
Boolean function F(x, y) as defined by the following
table:
x y (-x)y
0 0 0
0 1 1
1 0 0
1 1 0

Possible solution: F(x, y) = (-x)y

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 Boolean Functions and Expressions
Another Example:
x y z F(x, y, z) Possible solution I:
0 0 0 1 F(x, y, z) = -(xz + y)
0 0 1 1
0 1 0 0 Possible solution II:
0 1 1 0 F(x, y, z) = (-(xz))(-y)
1 0 0 1
1 0 1 0
1 1 0 0
1 1 1 0

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 Boolean Functions and Expressions
There is a simple method for deriving a Boolean
expression for a function that is defined by a
table. This method is based on minterms.
Definition: A literal is a Boolean variable or its
complement. A minterm of the Boolean variables x1,
x2, …, xn is a Boolean product y1y2…yn, where yi = xi
or yi = -xi.
Hence, a minterm is a product of n literals, with
one literal for each variable.

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 Boolean Functions and Expressions
Consider F(x,y,z) again: F(x, y, z) = 1 if and
only if:
x y z F(x, y, z)
0 0 0 1 x = y = z = 0 or
0 0 1 1 x = y = 0, z = 1 or
0 1 0 0 x = 1, y = z = 0
0 1 1 0 Therefore,
1 0 0 1
F(x, y, z) =
1 0 1 0
(-x)(-y)(-z) +
1 1 0 0
(-x)(-y)z +
1 1 1 0 x(-y)(-z)
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 Boolean Functions and Expressions
Definition: The Boolean functions F and G of n variables
are equal if and only if F(b1, b2, …, bn) = G(b1, b2, …, bn)
whenever b1, b2, …, bn belong to B.
Two different Boolean expressions that represent the
same function are called equivalent.
For example, the Boolean expressions xy, xy + 0, and xy 1
are equivalent.

HW 5 :Using truth table prove that the following

boolean functions are equivalents :
xy, xy + 0, and xy1

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 Boolean Functions and Expressions

The complement of the Boolean function F is the

function –F, where –F(b1, b2, …, bn) =
-(F(b1, b2, …, bn)).
Let F and G be Boolean functions of degree n. The
Boolean sum F+G and Boolean product FG are then
defined by
(F + G)(b1, b2, …, bn) = F(b1, b2, …, bn) + G(b1, b2, …, bn)
(FG)(b1, b2, …, bn) = F(b1, b2, …, bn) G(b1, b2, …, bn)

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 Boolean Functions and Expressions
Question: How many different Boolean functions
of degree 1 are there?
Solution: There are four of them, F1, F2, F3, and F4:

x F1 F2 F3 F4

0 0 0 1 1

1 0 1 0 1

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 Boolean Functions and Expressions
Question: How many different Boolean functions
of degree 2 are there?
Solution: There are 16 of them, F1, F2, …, F16:
x y F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 F10 F11 F12 F13 F14 F15 F16
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1
1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1
1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1

Dr. Nashwan Ahmed Discrete Structure: Boolean Algebra page 22

 Boolean Functions and Expressions
Question: How many different Boolean functions
of degree n are there?
Solution:
There are 2n different n-tuples of 0s and 1s.
A Boolean function is an assignment of 0 or 1 to
each of these 2n different n-tuples.
n
Therefore, there are 2 different Boolean
2

functions.

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 Duality
There are useful identities of Boolean expressions
that can help us to transform an expression A into
an equivalent expression B.

We can derive additional identities with the help

of the dual of a Boolean expression.
The dual of a Boolean expression is obtained by
interchanging Boolean sums and Boolean products
and interchanging 0s and 1s.

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 Duality
Examples:
The dual of x(y + z) is x + yz.
The dual of -x1 + (-y + z) (-x + 0)((-y)z).
is
The dual of a Boolean function F represented by
a Boolean expression is the function represented
by the dual of this expression.
This dual function, denoted by Fd, does not depend
on the particular Boolean expression used to
represent F.

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 Duality
Therefore, an identity between functions
represented by Boolean expressions remains valid
when the duals of both sides of the identity are
taken.
We can use this fact, called the duality principle,
to derive new identities.
For example, consider the absorption law
x(x + y) = x.
By taking the duals of both sides of this identity,
we obtain the equation x + xy = x, which is also an
identity (and also called an absorption law).

Dr. Nashwan Ahmed Discrete Structure: Boolean Algebra page 26

 Definition of a Boolean Algebra
All the properties of Boolean functions and
expressions that we have discovered also apply to
other mathematical structures such as
propositions and sets and the operations defined
on them.
If we can show that a particular structure is a
Boolean algebra, then we know that all results
established about Boolean algebras apply to this
structure.
For this purpose, we need an abstract definition
of a Boolean algebra.
Dr. Nashwan Ahmed Discrete Structure: Boolean Algebra page 27
 Definition of a Boolean Algebra
Definition: A Boolean algebra is a set B with two
binary operations  and , elements 0 and 1, and a
unary operation – such that the following
properties hold for all x, y, and z in B:
x  0 = x and x  1 = x (identity laws)
x  (-x) = 1 and x  (-x) = 0 (domination laws)
(x  y)  z = x  (y  z) and
(x  y)  z = x  (y  z) and (associative laws)
x  y = y  x and x  y = y  x (commutative laws)
x  (y  z) = (x  y)  (x  z) and
x  (y  z) = (x  y)  (x  z) (distributive laws)

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 Logic Gates
Electronic circuits consist of so-called gates.
There are three basic types of gates:

x -x
inverter

x x+y
OR gate
y

x xy
AND gate
y
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 Logic Gates
Example: How can we build a circuit that computes
the function xy + (-x)y ?

x xy
y
xy + (-x)y

x -x
(-x)y
y

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 X y F(x,Y) x = 1 , y=1 or
1 1 1 X=0 , y =1
1 0 0 F(x,y)= xy + (-x) y
0 1 1
0 0 0

HW 4
Draw the Logical gates of the following Boolean
Expression:
F(x,y,z)= (x+y)z + ((-z) +(-y))

Dr. Nashwan Ahmed Discrete Structure: Boolean Algebra page 31

 F(x,y,z)= (x+y)z + ((-z) +(-y))

X
x+y
y
(x + y )z
z

-z

y -y

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 Logic, Sets, and Boolean Algebra
Logic Set Boolean Algebra
False  0
True U 1
AB AB AB
AB AB A+B
A AC A

Compare the equivalence laws of them

Dr. Nashwan Ahmed Discrete Structure: Boolean Algebra page 33