A characterization of Boolean collections of set-valued functions (Q1273619)

Motivated by applications to the study of bio-circuits and of circuits based on frequency multiplexing, the authors study Boolean collections of sets, i.e., nonempty families of sets of the form \({\mathcal P}= \{X\in{\mathcal P}({\mathbf r})^n: f(X)= \emptyset\}\), where \({\mathbf r}\) stands for an \(r\)-element set and \(f:{\mathcal P}({\mathbf r})^n\to{\mathcal P}({\mathbf r})\) is a Boolean function. It is proved that there are \((2^{2^n} -1)^r\) Boolean collections. Other results refer to the actual construction of Boolean collections and are, in fact, valid in any Boolean algebra instead of \({\mathcal P}({\mathbf r})\). Some open problems are stated. Errata. On page 196, lines 9-8 from bottom, replace \(\cup\) by \(\oplus\). On page 198 interchange \({\mathbf r}\) and \(\emptyset\) in Corollary 2.3, and read \(A\oplus B= \overline{A}-B\) on line 4 from bottom. On page 199, line 3 from bottom, insert \(\subseteq X_1\) between \(A_1^2 X_2\) and \(\subseteq\).