GatesandFlip-Flops.docVIP

Gates and Flip-Flops Abstract: This experiment aims to investigate the operation of various logic gates and to construct some counting circuits. The similarities between Boolean Algebras and logical operations in electronics will be observed. Various truth tables for the logical operations will be made. The operation of a flip-flop – a circuit with memory – will be investigated and this will be applied in an integrated circuit which can count. Basic Theory: A Boolean algebra is a set B together with two operations, and , such that the following axioms hold: Commutativity: Associativity: Distributivity: Existence of a zero: such that Existence of a unity: such that Existence of complements: such that We can combine these operations, using the above axioms, to get other operations, such as “exclusive or”: . The set B can be thought of as the set of all propositions. This enables us to formalize our ideas about statements. We are then justified in calling the operations on a Boolean algebra “logical operations”. A truth table is a means of verifying a relation between two propositions. For example, we can verify the relation that “proposition P holds whenever P holds” (tautology) as follows: P P 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 A logic gate is an electronic device which can perform logical operations. The input is a voltage – either a non-zero voltage or a zero voltage. Similarly, the output is either a zero voltage or a non-zero voltage. These are the so-called “logical states”. We think of the non-zero voltage as a 1 and of the zero voltage as a 0. Thus in thinking about logic gates we ought to consider the Boolean algebra B = {0,1}. Just as in a Boolean algebra, the basic operations with which we concern ourselves are (AND), (OR) and C (NOT). Other operations can be obtained by composing these three basic operations. A flip-flop is an electronic device with memory. A simple flip-flop circuit is the following: (insert Figure 1) The g