Summary of Rules for K-Map Simplification

Summary of Rules for K–Map Simplification

Rules for simplifying logic function using K–map are :

1. Group should not include any cell containing a zero.

2. The number of cells in a group must be a power of 2, such as 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16.

3. Group may be horizontal, vertical but not diagonal.

4. Cell containing 1 must be included in at least one group.

5. Groups may overlap.

6. Each group should be as large as possible to get maximum simplification.

7. Groups may be wrapped around the map. The leftmost cell in a row may be grouped with the rightmost cell and the top cell in a column may be grouped with the bottom cell.

8. A cell may be grouped more than once. The only condition is that every group must have at least one cell that does not belong to any other group. Otherwise, redundant terms will result.

9. We need not group all don't care cells, only those that actually contribute to a maximum simplification.

10. All above rules are stated considering the SOP simplification. In case of POS simplification all rules are same except 0 (zero) takes place of 1 (one).

Review Question

1. State the rules for K–map simplification.