[ECE] 4–11 The Quine-McCluskey Method

For Boolean functions up to four variables, the Karnaugh map method is a powerful minimization method. When there are five variables, the Karnaugh map method is difficult to apply and completely impractical beyond five. The Quine-McCluskey method is a formal tabular method for applying the Boolean distributive law to various terms to find the minimum sum of products by eliminating literals that appear in two terms as complements.

After completing this section, you should be able to

u Describe the Quine-McCluskey method

u Reduce a Boolean expression using the Quine-McCluskey method

 

The second step in applying the Quine-McCluskey method is to arrange the minterms in the original expression in groups according to the number of 1s in each minterm.

 

 Third, compare adjacent groups, looking to see if any minterms are the same in every position except one. If they are, place a check mark by those two minterms

You should check each minterm against all others in the following group, but it is not necessary to check any groups that are not adjacent.

In the column labeled First level, you will have a list of the minterm names and the binary equivalent with an x as the placeholder for the literal that differs.

In this example, minterm m10 does not have a check mark because no other minterm meets the requirement of being identical except for one position. This term is called an essential prime implicant, and it must be included in our final reduced expression.

The terms listed in the First level have been used to form a reduced table (Table 4–12) with one less group than before. The number of 1s remaining in the First level are counted and used to form three new groups

Terms in the new groups are compared against terms in the adjacent group down. You need to compare these terms only if the x is in the same relative position in adjacent groups; otherwise go on. If the two expressions differ by exactly one position, a check mark is

placed next to both terms as before and all of the minterms are listed in the Second level list. As before, the one position that has changed is entered as an x in the Second level.

 

Although this expression is correct, it may not be the minimum possible expression.

There is a final check that can eliminate any unnecessary terms.

The terms for the expression are written into a prime implicant table, with minterms for each prime implicant 主要蕴涵项 checked, as shown in Table 4–13.