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Examples - Boolean Algebra - Simplification

George Boole developed Boolean algebra, which applies the rules of regular algebra to logic. Boolean algebra uses laws like idempotent, associative, commutative, distributive, identity, complement, and involution to simplify logical expressions and determine if two expressions are equivalent. Examples demonstrate using these laws to reduce expressions through successive applications of rules.

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Tartaglia Harbinger
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162 views

Examples - Boolean Algebra - Simplification

George Boole developed Boolean algebra, which applies the rules of regular algebra to logic. Boolean algebra uses laws like idempotent, associative, commutative, distributive, identity, complement, and involution to simplify logical expressions and determine if two expressions are equivalent. Examples demonstrate using these laws to reduce expressions through successive applications of rules.

Uploaded by

Tartaglia Harbinger
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Boolean Algebra

George Boole is famous because he showed that rules used in the algebra of numbers
could also be applied to logic. This logic algebra, called Boolean algebra in his honor,
has many properties which are similar to "regular" algebra. These rules can be very
helpful when we are asking the question such as "Is the expression ABC+D the same
as (A+D)(B+D)(C+D)?" They can also help us to reduce an expression to an equivalent
expression that has fewer operators.

These properties, called "laws", come in two flavors: the conjunctive form and
the disjunctive form.

 The Idempotent Laws: These laws express the fact that a Boolean value,
when ored or anded with itself, remains the same.

 The Associative Laws: These laws show that when you have more than two
operations of the same kind in a row, it doesn't matter the order in which they are
performed.

 The Commutative Laws: These laws show that the order in which you write
down the operands of a Boolean operation is not important.

 The Distributive Laws: These laws show that combinations of and and or can
be written in an expanded form.

 The Identity Laws: These laws show that a single variable interacts with the
constant values TRUE (shown here as T) and FALSE (shown here as F) with
consistent results.
 The Complement Laws: These laws define how value combines with its
complement.

 The Involution Law: There is only one form of this law, which addresses double
complementation.

 DeMorgan's Law: We proved this law in section 2. It shows the relationship


between and and or when complementation is applied.

Examples:
1. Simplify: C+B’C’:
Solution:
Expression Rule(s) Used
C+B’C’ Original Expression
C+(B’+C’) DeMorgan’s Law
(C+C’)+B Commutative, Associative Laws
T+B’ Complement Law
T Identity Law

2. Simplify: A’B’(A’+B)(B’+B):
Solution:
Expression Rule(s) Used
A’B’(A’+B)(B’+B) Original Expression
A’B’(A’+B) Complement Law, Identity Law
(A’+B’)(A’+B) DeMorgan’s Law
A’+B’B Distributive law. This step uses the fact that or distributes
over and. It can look a bit strange since addition does not
distribute over multiplication.
A’ Complement, Identity.
3. Simplify: (A+C)(AD+AD’)+AC+C:
Solution:
Expression Rule(s) Used
(A+C)(AD+AD’)+AC+C Original Expression
(A+C)A(D+D’)+AC+C Distributive
(A+C)A+AC+C Complement, identity
A[(A+C)+C]+C Commutative, Distributive
A(A+C)+C Associative, Idempotent
AA+AC+C Distributive
A+(A+T)C Idempotent, Identity, Distributive
A+C Identity, twice.

4. Simplify: A’(A+B)+(B+AA)(A+B’):
Solution:
Expression Rule(s) Used
A’(A+B)+(B+AA)(A+B’) Original Expression
A’A+A’B+(B+A)A+(B+A)B’ Idempotent (AA TO A), then Distributive,
used twice.
A’B+(B+A)A+(B+A)B’ Complement, then Identity. (Strictly speaking,
we also used the Commutative Law for each of
these applications)
A’B+BA+AA+BB’+AB’ Distributive, two places
A’B+BA+A+AB’ Idempotent (for the A’s), then Complement
and Identity to remove BB’
A’B+AB+AT+AB’ Commutative, Identity; setting up for the
next step
A’B+A(B+T+B’) Distributive
A’B+A Identity, twice (depending how you count it)
A+A’B Commutative
(A+A’)(A+B) Distributive
A+B Complement, Identity.

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