
9-6 Discrete Mathematical Structures
4. The complement of the function f is obtained by De Morgan’s laws and is denoted by f ′.
5. Every Boolean expression in n variables defines a Boolean function.
9.2.4 Minterm and Maxterm
A Boolean variable or its complement is called a literal. A minterm in n variables is a product of
n literals in which variable or its complement appears only once. In case of two variables x and
y, only four minterms are possible, that is, xy, x′y, xy′, and x′y′. In case of n variables, there are
2
n
minterms.
A maxterm of n variables is the sum of n literals in which each variable or its complement
appears only once. In ...