Karnaugh Map

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What Does Karnaugh Map Mean?

A Karnaugh map (or K-map) is a graphic means of depicting Boolean functions. K-maps are used to simplify Boolean functions and expressions without using algebra-based Boolean methods.

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Techopedia Explains Karnaugh Map

A K-map is another form of the truth table used by digital designers. Use of K-maps is not always simple, because the more variables are used to implement a function, the more complicated the K-map becomes, and the more difficult it is to simplify the map using the K-map technique.

Generally, a K-map is used for minimizing Boolean expressions with less than six or seven variables.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.