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Bradley Goddard
11634039
ITC161
Assignment 1: Computers & Data & Digital Logic
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1. Describe Moore's law. Discuss its implications and limitations with respect to the current
trend in computing. [4 marks]

Moore’s law is a theory proposed by the co-founder of Intel, Gordon Moore, in 1965. Having observed
that the density of transistors in integrated circuits had doubled yearly since their invention, Moore
suggested that this trend would continue in the future. In practice, the doubling of density has
occurred closer to every 18 months and this may slow even further. Eventually, increasing the density
of circuits will become impossible as it will require more energy to cool the transistors than what
actually passes through them.

2. Convert the followings: [6 marks]

a. 1235 into octal representation

= 1x5^2 + 2x5^1 + 2x5^0

= 1x25 + 2x5 + 3x1

= 38 (base 10)

8^2 = 64 (too big)

8^1 = 8

8x4 = 32

8^0 = 1

1x6 = 6

123 (base 5) = 46 (base 8)

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b. 0xADD into 3-base representation

In hexadecimal, A = 10 and D = 13

= 10x16^2 + 13x16^1 + 13x16^0

= 10x256 + 13x16 + 13x1

= 2560 + 208 +13

= 2781 (base 10)

3^7 = 2187

1x2187 = 2187

2781-2187 = 594

3^6 = 729 (too big)

3^5 = 243

2x243 = 486

594-486 = 108

3^4 = 81

1x81 = 81

108-81 = 27

3^3 = 27

1x27 = 27

27-27 = 0

0xADD = 10211000 (base 3)

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c. -13.7510 into binary representation

2^3 = 8

8x1 = 8

13 -8 = 5

2^2 = 4

4x1 = 4

5-4 = 1

2^1 = 2 (too big)

2^0 = 1

1x1 = 1

1-1 = 0

2^-1 = .5

1x.5 = .5

2^ -2 = .25

1x.25 = .25

-13.75 (decimal) = -1101.11 (binary)

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3. A computer stores the floating point value using IEEE754 single precision format. What
value (in decimal) the computer stores if it stores the following? Please show all steps. [5
marks]

11000010110100000000000000000000

Single precision format uses 1 sign bit, 8 exponent bits and 23 significand bits. Therefore we can
determine by the first bit on the left that the number is negative.

The exponent (10000101) is equivalent to 133 in decimal. 133 – 127 (the bias used in single
precision) = 6 which is the corresponding power of 2.

The significand which consists of 101 (the zeros after these numbers are irrelevant) converts to .625.
In IEEE754 format a 1 is assumed before the decimal point hence this number is 1.625.

To covert to decimal, the formula to be followed is significand x 2^exponent - bias. Therefore this is
1.625 x 2^6. This number is 104. Because the sign bit is negative, the final decimal conversion is
equal to -104.

4. Considering A and B are Boolean variables, simplify the following Boolean expression
using Boolean Identities. Please list all rule(s) used for the simplification process. [5 marks]

A'(A + B) + (B + AA)(A + B')

A’(A+B) + (B+A)(A+B’) Idempotent Law (xx=x) (AND Form)

AA’ + BA’ + (B+A)(A+B’) Distributive Law (x(y+z) = xy + xz) (OR Form)

0 + BA’ + (B+A)(A+B’) Inverse Law (xx’ = 0) (AND Form)

BA’ + A + (BB’) Distributive Law (x + (yz) = (x + y) (x + z)) (AND Form)

BA’ + A + 0 Inverse Law (xx’ = 0) (AND Form)

(A+B)A’+A) Distributive Law (x + (yz) = (x + y) (x + z)) (AND Form)

(A+B)*1 Inverse Law (x + x′ = 1) (OR Form)

=A+B Simplest Form

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5. Show if the following two combinational circuits are equivalent by working out the Boolean
expression and the truth table for each circuit. [5 marks]

ab’ + c’ (bc)’ + a

a b c b’ c’ ab’ ab’+c’ (bc)’ (bc)’ + a

0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1
1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1
1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1
0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1
0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1
0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1

The circuit ab’ + c’ is not equivalent to (bc)’ + a. When a truth table is constructed, not all values result
in equivalent outcomes (a = 0, b = 0 and c = 1 & a = 1, b = 1 and c = 1) hence proving that the
combinational circuits are not identical.

6. Is the following distributive law valid or invalid? Prove your answer. [5 marks]

x XOR (y AND z) = (x XOR y) AND (x XOR z)

x y z yz x XOR yz x XOR y x XOR z (x XOR y)(x XOR Z)

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0
0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1
1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0
1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0
1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0

The distributive law is invalid. When a truth table is used to examine all possible outcomes,
it can be seen that in some cases (specifically when [x = 1, y = 1, z = 0], [x = 1, y = 0, z = 1]
and also when [x = 1, y = 0, z = 1]), the left hand side does not equal the right hand side.