Question

How many number of prime implicants are there in the expression F(x, y, z) = y’z’ + xy + x’z.

(a) 7

(b) 19

(c) 3

(d) 53

This question was posed to me in an international level competition.

The origin of the question is Boolean Algebra topic in division Boolean Algebra and Modeling Computations of Discrete Mathematics

Answer 1

Correct option is (c) 3

To explain: An implicant of a function is a product term which is included in the function.

Hence, for the given function, y’z’, xy and x’z all are prime implicants.