COMPUTING

FUNDAMENTALS
BOOLEAN LOGIC
 BOOLEAN LOGIC

A COMPUTER IS BASICALLY A COLLECTION OF TRANSISTORS AND CIRCUITS. THESE COMPONENTS HAVE TWO STATES:
• ON - A CURRENT IS FLOWING THROUGH THE COMPONENT
• OFF - A CURRENT IS NOT FLOWING THROUGH THE COMPONENT
THESE TWO STATES CAN EASILY BE REPRESENTED BY USING BINARY:
• 1 = ON (TRUE)
• 0 = OFF (FALSE)
BOOLEAN LOGIC CAN BE USED TO CHECK IF THE VALUES OF DIFFERENT STATES ARE THE SAME OR DIFFERENT WHEN
COMPARED. WHEN GEORGE BOOLE WAS STUDYING MATHEMATICAL THEORIES, HE DISCOVERED A RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN ALGEBRA AND LOGIC. THIS LED TO THE IDEA THAT BY COMPARING DIFFERENT STATES USING THREE
MAIN CONDITIONS, THIS WOULD ALWAYS OUTPUT A TRUE OR FALSE VALUE. THIS LATER BECAME KNOWN AS A
BOOLEAN DATA TYPE.
THE THREE MAIN TYPES OF CONDITION ARE:
• AND
• OR
• NOT
 LOGIC GATES

IN ITS MOST BASIC FORM, A COMPUTER IS A COLLECTION OF POWERED AND

UNPOWERED CIRCUITS AND TRANSISTORS. A LOGIC GATE IS A SERIES OF TRANSISTORS CONNECTED
TOGETHER TO GIVE ONE OR MORE OUTPUTS, EACH OUTPUT BEING BASED ON THE INPUT OR COMBINATION
OF INPUTS SUPPLIED TO IT. THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF GATE TO CONSIDER:

• AND GATE

• OR GATE

• NOT GATE

EACH TYPE OF GATE CAN BE REPRESENTED EITHER AS A DIAGRAM, IN ALGEBRAIC FORM, OR AS A TRUTH
TABLE.
 LOGIC GATES

AND GATES
AN AND GATE USES TWO INPUTS TO GENERATE ONE OUTPUT. THE OUTPUT IS 1 (TRUE) ONLY IF BOTH OF THE
INPUTS ARE 1 (TRUE).
AND GATES ARE REPRESENTED DIAGRAMMATICALLY AS:

A REPRESENTS THE FIRST INPUT. B REPRESENTS THE SECOND INPUT. Q REPRESENTS THE OUTPUT.
A TRUTH TABLE SHOWS, FOR EACH COMBINATION OF INPUTS, WHAT THE OUTPUT WILL BE. LIKE LOGIC
GATES, A 0 IN THE TABLE REPRESENTS FALSE, WHILE 1 REPRESENTS TRUE.
 LOGIC GATES

AND GATES

AN AND GATE IS REPRESENTED IN THE TRUTH TABLE BELOW.

A B Q

0 0 0

0 1 0

1 0 0

1 1 1
 LOGIC GATES

OR GATES
AN OR GATE USES TWO INPUTS TO GENERATE ONE OUTPUT. THE OUTPUT IS 1 (TRUE) ONLY IF EITHER OR BOTH OF THE INPUTS
ARE 1 (TRUE).
OR GATES ARE REPRESENTED DIAGRAMMATICALLY AS:

A REPRESENTS THE FIRST INPUT. B REPRESENTS THE SECOND INPUT. Q REPRESENTS THE OUTPUT.
 LOGIC GATES

OR GATE

AN OR GATE IS REPRESENTED IN THE TRUTH TABLE AS BELOW.

A B Q

0 0 0

0 1 1

1 0 1

1 1 1
 LOGIC GATES

NOT GATES
A NOT GATE USES JUST ONE INPUT TO GENERATE ONE OUTPUT. A NOT GATE INVERTS THE INPUT - THE OUTPUT IS 1 (TRUE) IF THE INPUT
IS 0 (FALSE), AND THE OUTPUT IS 0 (FALSE) IF THE INPUT IS 1 (TRUE).
NOT GATES ARE REPRESENTED DIAGRAMMATICALLY AS:

THE NOT GATE HAS WHAT APPEARS TO BE A NOSE AT THE FRONT. WHEN USING MORE COMPLEX GATES, THIS NOSE IS ADDED TO OTHER
GATES TO SHOW THEY HAVE BEEN COMBINED WITH THE NOT GATE.
 LOGIC GATES

NOT GATE

A NOT GATE IS REPRESENTED IN THE TRUTH TABLE BELOW.

A Q

0 1

1 0
 COMBINING GATES

LOGIC GATES ARE OFTEN COMBINED TO CREATE MORE COMPLEX CONDITIONS. WHEN THIS HAPPENS, THE OUTPUT OF ONE GATE IS
CONNECTED DIRECTLY TO ANOTHER GATE.

COMBINING TWO AND GATES

HERE, THE OUTPUT Q IS 1 (TRUE) ONLY IF INPUTS C AND D ARE 1 (TRUE). D IS ONLY 1 (TRUE) IF INPUTS A AND B ARE 1 (TRUE).

WHEN READING A LOGIC CIRCUIT AND WRITING OUT THE EQUATION, REMEMBER TO READ IT FROM RIGHT TO LEFT AND TOP TO
BOTTOM.
 COMBINING GATES

AS A TRUTH TABLE THIS CIRCUIT IS:

NOTE: D IS NOT STRICTLY NECESSARY IN THE TABLE, BUT IT HELPS IN UNDERSTANDING Q.

A B C D = A AND B Q

0 0 0 0 0

0 0 1 0 0

0 1 0 0 0

0 1 1 0 0

1 0 0 0 0

1 0 1 0 0

1 1 0 1 0

1 1 1 1 1