Implicant

In Boolean logic, the term implicant has either a generic or a particular meaning. In the generic use, it refers to the hypothesis of an implication (wiktionary:implicant). In the particular use, it refers to specific instance of this generic meaning, which occurs relative to a formula that is either a sum of products or a product of sums, as explained further below. In Boolean logic, the term implicant has either a generic or a particular meaning. In the generic use, it refers to the hypothesis of an implication (wiktionary:implicant). In the particular use, it refers to specific instance of this generic meaning, which occurs relative to a formula that is either a sum of products or a product of sums, as explained further below. In its particular use, an implicant is a 'covering' (sum term or product term) of one or more minterms in a sum of products (or maxterms in product of sums) of a Boolean function. Formally, a product term P in a sum of products is an implicant of the Boolean function F if P implies F. More precisely: