No label defined (Q4544374)

A way to define classes of Boolean functions by certain expressions called functional terms is introduced. It is an extension of a system that uses identities, presented by \textit{O. Ekin}, \textit{S. Foldes}, \textit{P. L. Hammer} and \textit{L. Hellerstein} [Discrete Math. 211, 27-51 (2000; Zbl 0947.06008)]. Although the two schemes are equivalent in expressive power, the new approach has a number of advantages. The main results include a general characterization of term-definable classes in terms of certain closure properties. In particular, it follows that any clone of Boolean functions is term-definable. On the other hand, the family of term-definable classes is shown to be equipotent to the continuum; this is possible as infinite terrns are allowed. A class is said to have rank \(r\) if it can be defined by a term with \(r\) distinct variables. For any given natural number \(r\), the number of term-definable classes of rank \(r\) is shown to be finite, and the classes of rank 0 or 1 are completely described. Many concrete examples of term-definable classes of Boolean functions are also considered.