ITPEC FE Morning April 2021 Question 21

Source exam: ITPEC FE Morning April 2021Topic: Computer Systems & Hardware

ITPEC FE Morning April 2021 — Question 21 of 80

Half Adder Gate Combination — identify the two logic gates in a half adder circuit.

A half adder adds two single-bit binary inputs x and y, producing:
- z (sum) = x XOR y

- c (carry) = x AND y

Truth table:

xyz (XOR)c (AND)
0000
0110
1010
1101

Why not others:
- (b) AND + OR — AND outputs 0 when inputs differ, so sum would be wrong

- (c) NAND + NOR — inverted outputs, does not match binary addition

- (d) NOR + XOR — NOR for sum gives wrong results (1 when both inputs are 0)

Key rule: Half adder = XOR (sum) + AND (carry). Full adder extends this by adding a carry-in input.

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