In combinational logic, a condition that is said to exist when two terms of a Boolean function have one shared variable, which in one term is true and in the other complemented. A new term can be generated by the product of the remaining literals in the two terms, with the consensus variable eliminated, without altering the value of the function. For example, if

then, in addition,The term bc is sometimes called an optional product. This operation is invaluable in the elimination of circuit static hazards. Its systematic application to a Boolean function provides the basis of a minimization procedure that is less voluminous than the Quine-McCluskey method, since it does not require the full canonical expansion of the original function.