Digital logic fundamentals: How many output signals can a single logic gate (e.g., AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, XOR) normally provide in a standard digital circuit design?

Introduction / Context:
A logic gate is the basic building block of digital electronics. In textbooks, datasheets, and schematic symbols, a gate performs a Boolean operation on one or more inputs and presents the result as an output. Understanding how many outputs a single gate provides helps distinguish simple gates from multi-output devices such as decoders or demultiplexers and prevents design confusion when reading logic diagrams.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• The term “logic gate” refers to elementary gates (AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, XOR, XNOR) as singular functional blocks.
• We are considering the output count of one gate instance, not the number of gates inside an IC package.
• We are not discussing derived or complex combinational modules like encoders or decoders.

Concept / Approach:
By definition, a gate computes a single Boolean function value at a time and presents that value on one output node. While a physical integrated circuit may contain several such gates (e.g., a “quad 2-input NAND” has four independent NAND gates), each individual gate symbol in a schematic has a single output pin. Multi-output behaviors are characteristic of higher-level combinational circuits (e.g., a 3-to-8 decoder has eight outputs), not simple gates.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Identify the scope: one gate equals one Boolean function instance.Recall standard symbols: NOT, AND, OR, NAND, NOR, XOR—all with one output pin.Conclude that a single gate normally supplies one output signal.

Verification / Alternative check:
Examine standard TTL/CMOS datasheets (e.g., 74HC08 quad AND); each subgate has exactly one output even though the package contains multiple gates. Schematic libraries and EDA tools also model gates as single-output primitives.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
“More than one” and “two only” describe multi-output modules (e.g., decoders), not single gates. “Both (a) and (b)” can’t be correct because they contradict the standard single-output definition. “None” fails because a correct choice exists.

Common Pitfalls:
Confusing an IC package that houses multiple gates with one gate that has multiple outputs; conflating demultiplexers/decoders (multi-output) with basic gates (single-output).

Final Answer:
one.