Design Specifications
A board of directors has four members; a president, a vice-president, a secretary, and a treasurer. Each member has a single yes/no vote. For a decision to pass, a majority of the board members must vote yes. In the event of a tie, the president's vote is used to break the tie (i.e., if the president votes yes, the decision passes. If the president votes no, the decision fails.)
The Assignment
Using only AND, OR, and Inverter logic gates, design and build a Majority Vote voting machine that meets the design specifications.
Truth Table
To start, I inputted the requirements into a truth table. Each line generated a segment of letters needed to create my expression.
Un-Simplified Logic Expression
I then combined all the terms to build an expression.
Simplified Logic Expression
To reduce the expression to simpler terms to physically build on the breadboard, I simplified the expression using Boolean Algebra.
Circuit Design
Converting the simplified expression to a circuit using AND, OR, and inverter gates illustrated the exact design of my circuit.
Finished Circuit
Using the above design, I constructed the circuit on my breadboard.
This was a great first circuit to create because it synthesized the topics we covered in class, but did not prove overly difficult. While the Boolean Algebra was rather lengthy, moving through it one step at a time demonstrated how to implement it well and enhanced my understanding of it as a whole.