A + Ā = 1 — Boolean algebra laws

corecomplement / excluded middle

Answer

verified equivalent (both sides → 1)

Why this example is worth doing

The complement law, which together with the identity, null, idempotent and commutative laws forms the axiom set everything else is derived from. The page shows the two-row proof and then does something more useful: it traces which later results depend on it. Adjacency, absorption and the whole of K-map grouping all bottom out here. Presenting the axioms as a dependency graph rather than a flat list is the main thing this reference does that a textbook appendix does not.

Try your own input in the Boolean laws & theorems. Every law, both duals, each with a truth-table proof you can check.

How the answer is reached

The law

A + A′1Both sides have the same truth table over the union of their variables.

Truth table

Truth table — columns #, A, F
#AF
001
111

Compare with

Open the Boolean laws & theorems

This input is entered in the tool itself — it is too rich for a link to carry.

Note:

Notation this page assumes

  • Symbols: · is AND, + is OR, ⊕ is XOR, a prime or an overline is NOT. The field also takes ∧ ∨ ¬ ~ ! & | and the words.
  • Operator precedence, tightest first: NOT, then AND (including juxtaposition), then XOR/XNOR, then NAND/NOR, then OR, then IMPLIES, then IFF.
  • In a minterm index the first variable is the most significant bit, so over [A, B, C] minterm 5 is A·B̄·C.

Sources

  • Boole, An Investigation of the Laws of Thought (1854)
  • Shannon, “A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits” (1938)