Boolean Algebra
OEES 160
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The following is an excerpt from Wikipedia's article titled Two-Element Boolean Algebra. [In the expressions below, the multiplication operator looks like a period to make the typing easier. The multiplication operator is usually written midway up, just as in regular algebra.] There are several names and notations for the two binary operations of Boolean algebra. Here they are called 'sum' and 'product', notated by '+' and '.', respectively. As for order of operations, '.' precedes '+', but brackets may override. Hence A.B + C is parsed as (A.B) + C not A.(B + C). Interpreting one of 0 and 1 as True and the other as False yields classical bivalent logic in equational form. In this case, '+' is read as OR, '.' as AND, and complementation as NOT. Some basic identities
Note that:
Each of '+' and '.' distributes over the other. That is, A.(B+C) = A.B + A.C and A+B.C = (A+B).(A+C). De Morgan's Theorem De Morgan's theorem states that if you do the following, in the given order, to any Boolean function:
the result is logically equivalent to what you started with. Repeated application of De Morgan's theorem to parts of a function can be used to drive all complements down to the individual variables. |