Introduction: Hi, I am Jeff and I’m real good with Excel. I have had training in basic electronics and I like puzzles. I will walk you through making and playing with ‘simulated’ logic gates in Excel.
One drawback of this is the lack of a time sequence in their function. I get around this by generating random numbers ‘1s & 0s’. Therefore, if the order something happens in is crucial for your project you will need to input the Binary Code Decimal manually and I will show you how to have that option. If you just want to see it work and have some fun with logic gates, I will show you what I know and what I did. I will try to be detailed enough for Excel rookies but the second time we do a process I'll be a more brief. You can go back and refamiliarize yourself with the technique if you need to.
Conclusion of introduction: I do not want to type “or the color of your choice” every time I tell you what color I used. Please fill free to choose any color you like. Location, on the other hand, should be followed. I may refer to cell [C15] and if your [C15] is not where you put whatever I may have put there, it could get confusing. By all means, move things around to your liking when we’re done building. Left click & Right click refer to the mouse buttons. If you do not have a mouse you will need to make substitutions…
(Part 1 of 3)
Let’s make a template.
Open up Microsoft Excel. Hit save and give it a title. I named mine LOGIC GATES. You may be more creative than I.
(Shrinking the cell width)
Left click on the [A] above the first column and hold the button down. Drag across the letters to about [AS]. The whole area below should now be selected. Right click in that area and select “Column width…” and change the number to 4 and hit ok. You should now have relatively square boxes. Monitors are all a little different so if you need to +/- the size, go for it. Perfect squares are not required.
(Create a ‘Truth Table’)
Left click on [C1] and hold. Slide to [F1] and let go. You should have a 4-cell box. Click on the Merge & Center command above and type “STATES” and hit Enter. Left click that area again and click on the yellow bucket above. Now go to the Font area and open the drop-down menu next to the underlined cell icon. Select “All Borders”.
Note: I will be using “Quotation marks” for things to type in the cells. You do not need to include them.
Now box with your mouse [B3]&[B4] to [F3]&[F4] and click on the “All Borders” icon above. In [B3] type “A”. In the next two boxes, moving right, type “0”(s). In the last two boxes type “1”(s). You should have: A 0 0 1 1. Below that put: B 0 1 0 1.
Now we can move faster. Merge & Center [A6]&[B6] Open the drop-down menu by the paint bucket icon and select the lightest gold color for [A6]&[B6]. Mouse box from [F6] to [A6]. Select “All Borders”. Select “Format Painter” (Upper left) and click on [A8]. Select “Format Painter” and click on [A10]. Repeat this process for [A12], [A14] & [A16]. You should have 6 colored boxes each connected to 4 empty boxes.
Now type in the boxes starting with [A6]-[F6]: AND 0 0 0 1. [A8]: NAND 1 1 1 0. [A10]: OR 0 1 1 1. [A12] NOR 1 0 0 0. [A14] XOR 0 1 1 0. [A16] XNOR 1 0 0 1.
Last, under your yellow “STATES” box in [C2]-[F2]: Type "#1", "#2", "#3" & "#4". Box with your mouse [C2]-[F2] and reduce the font size to 8.
The Truth Table is complete and we can do the preparation for the Logic Gates.
A sample of the project is attached.
