ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the analysis and synthesis of combinational logic. During analysis, the operation of a given logic circuit is described in terms of a logical expression or a truth table. During synthesis (or design), a word description and/or a timing diagram is converted to a logic diagram. A combinational logic circuit performs an operation that is specified by a set of Boolean functions and consists of input variables, logic gates, and output variables. The logic gates accept signals from the input variables and generate signals to the output variables based on the interconnection of the logic gates. The logic primitives can be realized by either AND gates, OR gates, and inverters, or by functionally complete gates, such as NAND or NOR gates. Additional logic functions can be realized by wiring together the outputs of certain types of logic gates. The chapter also presents the functional operation of multiplexers, decoders, encoders, priority encoders, and comparators.
