Confirming Pages
202 CHAPTER 6 Digital Circuits
Binary coded decimal (BCD) is another type of digital representation some-
times used for input and output of numerical data. With BCD, 4 bits are used to
represent a single, base 10 digit. BCD is a convenient mechanism for representing
decimal numbers in a binary number format, but it is inefficient for storing or trans-
mitting multiple-digit numbers because only 10 of the 16 (2
4
) possible states of the
4-bit number are used. To convert a decimal number to BCD, assemble the 4-bit
codes for each decimal digit. For example,
123
10
0001 0010 0011
bcd
=
(6.8)
Note that this is different from the binary representation:
23
10
0111 1011
2
=
(6.9)
■ CLASS DISCUSSION ITEM 6.2
Computer Magic
How can a digital computer perform the complex operations it does given that its
architecture and operation are based on simply manipulating bits (zeros and ones)?
6.3 COMBINATIONAL LOGIC
AND LOGIC CLASSES
Combinational logic devices are digital devices that convert binary inputs into binary
outputs based on the rules of mathematical logic. The basic operations, schematic
symbols, and algebraic expressions for combinational logic devices are shown in
Table 6.3 . These devices are also called gates, because they control the flow of sig-
nals from the inputs to the single output. A small circle at the input or output of a
digital device denotes signal inversion; that is, a 0 becomes a 1 or a 1 becomes a 0.
For example, the NAND and NOR gates are AND and OR gates, respectively, with
the output inverted, hence the circle is shown on the output. The truth table for each
device is shown on the right. The truth table is a compact means of displaying all
combinations of inputs and their corresponding outputs. Usually the combination of
inputs is written as the ascending list of binary numbers whose number of bits corre-
sponds to the number of inputs (e.g., 00, 01, 10, 11 for two inputs). Internet Link 6.2
provides a fun online digital circuit simulator allowing you to drag-and-drop and
connect logic gates in different ways to interactively see how combinational logic
circuits function.
The standard AND, NAND, OR, NOR, and XOR gates have only two inputs,
but other forms are available with more than two inputs. In the case of a multiple
input AND gate, the output is 1 if and only if all inputs are 1; otherwise, the output is
0. In the case of the OR gate, the output is 0 if and only if all inputs are 0; otherwise,
it is 1. In the case of the XOR gate, the output is 0 if all of the inputs are 0 or if all of
Internet Lin
6.2“Logicly”
combinational
logic online
simulator
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