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Difference between Combinational and Sequential logic circuits.

Posted on October 27, 2015June 16, 2025 By Dewansh 24 Comments on Difference between Combinational and Sequential logic circuits.

Combinational and Sequential circuits are the most essential concepts to be understood in digital electronics.

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Sequential logic is a type of logic circuit whose output depends not only on the present value of its input signals but on the sequence of past inputs.

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Combinational Logic CircuitsSequential Logic Circuits
Output is a function of the present inputs (Time Independent Logic).Output is a function of clock, present inputs and the previous states of the system.
Do not have the ability to store data (state).Have memory to store the present states that is sent as control input (enable) for the next operation.
It does not require any feedback. It simply outputs the input according to the logic designed.It involves feedback from output to input that is stored in the memory for the next operation.
Used mainly for Arithmetic and Boolean operations.Used for storing data (and hence used in RAM).
Logic gates are the elementary building blocks.Flip flops (binary storage device) are the elementary building unit.
Independent of clock and hence does not require triggering to operate.Clocked (Triggered for operation with electronic pulses).
Example: Adder [1+0=1; Dependency only on present inputs i.e., 1 and 0].Example: Counter [Previous O/P +1=Current O/P; Dependency on present input as well as previous state].

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Digital Electronics Tags:Adder, Circuit, Clock, Combinational, Counter, Memory, Sequential, State

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Comments (24) on “Difference between Combinational and Sequential logic circuits.”

  1. elango says:
    August 17, 2016 at 9:17 am

    thank you for given valuable information

    Reply
  2. Gautam Gupta says:
    September 12, 2017 at 6:47 pm

    in combinational ckt we are using gate but in sequential ckt what will we use to designe

    Reply
    1. Sidhartha says:
      September 19, 2017 at 12:37 pm

      Hey Gautam,
      To design sequential circuit also we use gates. But in case of sequential circuit we use feed back gates (memory elements) along with combinational logic. So that it can work like a latch or flip-flop. If you still have doubt, let us know. We would explain it in a detailed way.

      Reply
      1. auwal ibrahim sanusi says:
        June 9, 2019 at 1:10 pm

        what are the similarities between combinational circuit and sequential circuits

        Reply
    2. Harish says:
      October 25, 2018 at 3:59 am

      May be flipflops or latches

      Reply
  3. Ruchita says:
    October 7, 2017 at 3:17 am

    Thankyou! 🙂

    Reply
    1. Sidhartha says:
      October 13, 2017 at 11:43 am

      Welcome Ruchita 🙂

      Reply
  4. Sagnik says:
    October 15, 2017 at 8:22 pm

    In sequential circuit block diagram ,it is said that some outputs are again feedbacked to inputs,after storing them in memory.
    But,where is that memory in sr latch.In sr latch ,it is seen that the output is directly taken to the inputs,and their is no memory.

    Reply
    1. Sidhartha says:
      October 22, 2017 at 7:34 pm

      Dear Sagnik,

      Memory in the block diagram shows a delay for which the previous output can be hold and can be used as the feedback input in the present clock cycle. In the SR latch the gate delay in the NAND/NOR gates works like the memory block in the block diagram. So, there is no explicit memory block in the SR latch.

      Reply
  5. tom z prude says:
    December 31, 2017 at 7:21 am

    thank you,,,,,,but i wanna to ask u examples of each circuits

    Reply
  6. Raj Bhattacharyya says:
    January 3, 2018 at 3:18 pm

    thank you for helping the difference between the two circuit

    Reply
  7. Raj Bhattacharyya says:
    January 3, 2018 at 3:19 pm

    thank you for giving the information.

    Reply
  8. Raj Bhattacharyya says:
    January 3, 2018 at 3:21 pm

    thanks

    Reply
    1. Sidhartha says:
      August 15, 2018 at 10:25 am

      Most welcome Raj.

      Reply
      1. tharun says:
        April 12, 2019 at 8:46 am

        what if sequential circuits are combined

        Reply
        1. Sidhartha says:
          April 16, 2019 at 10:36 am

          Hi Tharun,

          Eventually Sequential circuits are also combinational circuits but with a memory element and a feedback path.

          Reply
  9. dr.p ravindra redy says:
    February 16, 2018 at 9:24 am

    thank you for given valuable information

    Reply
    1. Sidhartha says:
      August 15, 2018 at 10:25 am

      Thank you Ravindra for your appreciation.

      Reply
  10. Amit says:
    October 7, 2018 at 4:48 pm

    CAN you please explain with the help of an example that the flip-flop work as a memory element. I have confusion in it.

    Reply
    1. Sidhartha says:
      October 9, 2018 at 5:25 pm

      Hi Amit,

      You take an example of shift-register or a counter. Basic elements of both of these are flip-flops.
      Let’s consider a 3-bit counter. It counts 000,001,010,011,100,101,110 and 111.
      Let a is the counter. Then it can be written as:
      a(t+1) = a(t) + 1
      so, ‘a’ at time t+1 can be calculated only when ‘a’ holds a value at time ‘t’. Thus it behaves like a memory.

      Reply
      1. Harish says:
        October 25, 2018 at 4:02 am

        We can say registers also an memory element

        Reply
        1. Sidhartha says:
          November 5, 2018 at 6:18 am

          Hi Harish,

          Yes you can say registers also memory elements

          Reply
  11. RavinA says:
    December 21, 2018 at 5:18 am

    Thanku so much😊

    Reply
    1. Sidhartha says:
      December 23, 2018 at 12:19 pm

      Most Welcome Ravin

      Reply

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