Hey, regarding project 2. Assuming we want to use a “not” gate on the entire input b, can we do that, giving the gate a 4-bit input?
The instructions say fan in and fan out must be 2 tops, but if the gate receives 4 bits in one cable, is that allowed?
If not, using a splitter in order to use not on each bit separately sounds kind of messy, is that the expectation?
NOT gates take in data of maximum 1 bits therefore as you said, it would probably make sense to use a splitter. This question has been asked two times already as a matter of fact.
I saw that the question has been asked, but it wasn’t clear (and still isn’t to be honest) whether it’s ok or not to use a not gate on one cable transferring more than a single bit. Assuming I want to use not on every bit from the input, and can do so through one not gate at once, using a splitter doesn’t seem to make much sense, does it?
As submission instruction #5 says, you are not allowed to use gates with bit-width larger than 1… unless it is a function you implement yourself.
So if you want to use a multi-bit NOT, what you should do is implement it yourself (as a separate circuit) and use it.
Hi, Can we ask why?
If we managed to do this project and the previous one we know how to use a splitter and the basic gates with more than 1 bit-width in are just splitting them up, using the same gate and then connecting them back together.
I second @abenjaminov’s comment! Splitting the cable in order to use the gate, just to reconnect it sounds messy and counterproductive… I’d like to understand if there’s actual reasoning for this
@abenjaminov is correct, the high bit-width gates work by operating on the input bit-by-bit.
You understand this correctly, but that might not be the case for everyone else. The reasoning behind this rule is for people to understand and internalise exactly this.
It is indeed messy, and you wouldn’t use something like this in real life. But projects aren’t real life, they’re teaching tools. The goal isn’t to make the most beautiful and optimal circuit, but rather to learn and strengthen your fundamentals.