Improved variable-entered Karnaugh map procedures (Q1095873)

An improved variable-entered Karnaugh map (VEKM) procedure for obtaining the minimal disjunctive form of a switching function and a dual procedure for obtaining its minimal conjunctive form are presented. These procedures apply to any general switching function of moderate complexity that can be incompletely specified with respect to all its variables. Existing VEKM procedures are compared to the new ones and are shown to be special cases of them. Various examples are given to illustrate the details of the new procedures and to demonstrate their efficiency and power.