Characteristics in highly nonlinear functions (Q558225)

The distance between two Boolean functions \(f,g:\{0,1\}^n\longrightarrow \{0,1\}\) is the number of points \(x\) for which \(f(x)\oplus g(x)=1\). A function which can be represented in the form \(f(x_1,\dots,x_n)=a_1x_1 \oplus\dots\oplus a_nx_n\oplus 1\) is called affine. The nonlinearity of a function \(f\) is the least distance between \(f\) and an affine function. The highly nonlinear odd-dimensional Boolean functions have many applications in cryptographic practice. The results obtained in this paper provide a methodology for constructing highly nonlinear function. These functions are closely related to another class of functions, called bent functions.