Engineering Boolean and truth table for circuit

AI Thread Summary
The discussion focuses on converting a circuit involving transistors into a Boolean expression, highlighting confusion about the role of transistors compared to traditional logic gates. Participants emphasize that ideal transistors operate in cutoff or saturation, affecting the output based on input states A and B. It is clarified that when both A and B are low, the output is 0, while if either is high, the output is 1. The transistors function as voltage-controlled switches, enabling the gating operation essential for logic circuits. Understanding the current path when transistors are enabled is crucial for solving the problem.
pyroknife
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I attached the problem statement.

The problems I have done in the past always involved gates (AND, OR, etc...)
Now this involves transistors, I honestly don't know how to go about doing this.

One of the hints for the problem is to assume the ideal transistors are operating in cutoff or saturation.

I don't understand how this circuit can be turned into a boolean expression.
 

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pyroknife said:
I attached the problem statement.

The problems I have done in the past always involved gates (AND, OR, etc...)
Now this involves transistors, I honestly don't know how to go about doing this.

One of the hints for the problem is to assume the ideal transistors are operating in cutoff or saturation.

I don't understand how this circuit can be turned into a boolean expression.

If A and B are low, what is the output?

If either A or B are high, what is the output?

Makes sense?
 
berkeman said:
If A and B are low, what is the output?

If either A or B are high, what is the output?

Makes sense?

If A and B are low then the output is 0.
If A and B are high then the output is 1.

If A or B are high, the output is 1.

But what do the transistors do for this case?
 
pyroknife said:
If A and B are low then the output is 0. ✗[/size][/color]
If A and B are high then the output is 1. ✗[/size][/color]
If A or B are high, the output is 1. ✗[/size][/color]
How did you work out these answers? Do you understand how transistor switches operate? (Not exactly a rhetorical question, though it may appear so.)

But what do the transistors do for this case?
The transistors are the voltage-controlled switches that perform the gating operation. Without them, you don't have logic gates.
 
Perhaps the best way to look at the logic is 'what path will the current take when either transistor is enabled. Remember when no current is flowing, the potentials across either side are the resistor are the same. Hope that provide a clue.
 
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