Schaum's Outline of Boolean Algebra and Switching Circuits

Rating:
Summary: digital designers can find useful problems
Review: For those of you inclined to the theoretical aspects of computing, this book may be good revision. The first half of the book deals with set theory and then with Boolean algebra. The Boolean concepts should be easy to follow, and likewise with the problems presented to you here.

What is more challenging is the second half, dealing with switching circuits. You can see techniques that map from a logic circuit to its Boolean representation. And then the vital idea of a Karnaugh map, in order to simplify that representation. Digital circuit designers live for this stuff! Many problems to chew on. See how well you really understand the material.

You might look with askance on the publication date of 1970. 1970?! Moore had barely formulated his law a few years earlier. And Medium Scale Integration was the order of the day, perhaps, with the first microprocessor still under design. But the maths in this book still holds true now. In fact, it is even more relevant today. Because the circuits are orders of magnitude larger, so finding efficient means of circuit minimisation are more urgent. For that, you need a solid theoretical basis. And this book can test that understanding.