ABSTRACT
In this chapter methods of minimizing logic functions are studied. If a minimum Boolean function can be found, it can be implemented with the least number of small-scale logic gates and represents a best-case design in terms of cost and size. Each logic gate requires at least one connection to the plus and minus supplies also and furnishes an electrical path from the positive to the negative supply. A pictorial or diagrammatic approach called the Karnaugh map on which the function is plotted is often a better method of simplifying a switching function. From a mapping of the function, groups of minterms which can combine are easily identified. Mathematically, an implicant of a function is any minterm, or two or more minterms which have been combined into a larger loop. In other words, any valid loop consisting of one or more minterms is an implicant of the function.
