Analysis Of Boolean Functions

This graduate-level text gives a thorough overview of the analysis of Boolean functions, beginning with the most basic definitions and proceeding to advanced topics.

Cryptographic Boolean Functions and Applications, Second Edition is designed to be a comprehensive reference for the use of Boolean functions in modern cryptography. While the vast majority of research on cryptographic Boolean functions has been achieved since the 1970s, when cryptography began to be widely used in everyday transactions, in particular banking, relevant material is scattered over hundreds of journal articles, conference proceedings, books, reports and notes, some of them only available online. This book follows the previous edition in sifting through this compendium and gathering the most significant information in one concise reference book. The work therefore encompasses over 600 citations, covering every aspect of the applications of cryptographic Boolean functions. Since 2008, the subject has seen a very large number of new results, and in response, the authors have prepared a new chapter on special functions. The new edition brings 100 completely new references and an expansion of 50 new pages, along with heavy revision throughout the text. Presents a foundational approach, beginning with the basics of the necessary theory, then progressing to more complex content Includes major concepts that are presented with complete proofs, with an emphasis on how they can be applied Includes an extensive list of references, including 100 new to this edition that were chosen to highlight relevant topics Contains a section on special functions and all-new numerical examples

Written by prominent experts in the field, this monograph provides the first comprehensive, unified presentation of the structural, algorithmic and applied aspects of the theory of Boolean functions. The book focuses on algebraic representations of Boolean functions, especially disjunctive and conjunctive normal form representations. This framework looks at the fundamental elements of the theory (Boolean equations and satisfiability problems, prime implicants and associated short representations, dualization), an in-depth study of special classes of Boolean functions (quadratic, Horn, shellable, regular, threshold, read-once functions and their characterization by functional equations) and two fruitful generalizations of the concept of Boolean functions (partially defined functions and pseudo-Boolean functions). Several topics are presented here in book form for the first time. Because of the depth and breadth and its emphasis on algorithms and applications, this monograph will have special appeal for researchers and graduate students in discrete mathematics, operations research, computer science, engineering and economics.

This is the first book to cover the theory of noise sensitivity of Boolean functions with particular emphasis on critical percolation.

Boolean valued analysis is a technique for studying properties of an arbitrary mathematical object by comparing its representations in two different set-theoretic models whose construction utilises principally distinct Boolean algebras. The use of two models for studying a single object is a characteristic of the so-called non-standard methods of analysis. Application of Boolean valued models to problems of analysis rests ultimately on the procedures of ascending and descending, the two natural functors acting between a new Boolean valued universe and the von Neumann universe. This book demonstrates the main advantages of Boolean valued analysis which provides the tools for transforming, for example, function spaces to subsets of the reals, operators to functionals, and vector-functions to numerical mappings. Boolean valued representations of algebraic systems, Banach spaces, and involutive algebras are examined thoroughly. Audience: This volume is intended for classical analysts seeking powerful new tools, and for model theorists in search of challenging applications of nonstandard models.

Boolean functions are perhaps the most basic objects of study in theoretical computer science. They also arise in other areas of mathematics, including combinatorics, statistical physics, and mathematical social choice. The field of analysis of Boolean functions seeks to understand them via their Fourier transform and other analytic methods. This text gives a thorough overview of the field, beginning with the most basic definitions and proceeding to advanced topics such as hypercontractivity and isoperimetry. Each chapter includes a 'highlight application' such as Arrow's theorem from economics, the Goldreich-Levin algorithm from cryptography/learning theory, Håstad's NP-hardness of approximation results, and 'sharp threshold' theorems for random graph properties. The book includes roughly 450 exercises and can be used as the basis of a one-semester graduate course. It should appeal to advanced undergraduates, graduate students and researchers in computer science theory and related mathematical fields.

Modern systems engineering (e. g. switching circuits design) and operations research (e. g. reliability systems theory) use Boolean functions with increasing regularity. For practitioners and students in these fields books written for mathe maticians are in several respects not the best source of easy to use information, and standard books, such as, on switching circuits theory and reliability theory, are mostly somewhat narrow as far as Boolean analysis is concerned. Further more, in books on switching circuits theory the relevant stochastic theory is not covered. Aspects of the probabilistic theory of Boolean functions are treated in some works on reliability theory, but the results deserve a much broader interpre tation. Just as the applied theory (e. g. of the Laplace transform) is useful in control theory, renewal theory, queueing theory, etc. , the applied theory of Boolean functions (of indicator variables) can be useful in reliability theory, switching circuits theory, digital diagnostics and communications theory. This book is aimed at providing a sufficiently deep understanding of useful results both in practical work and in applied research. Boolean variables are restricted here to indicator or O/l variables, i. e. variables whose values, namely 0 and 1, are not free for a wide range of interpretations, e. g. in digital electronics 0 for L ==low voltage and 1 for H == high voltage.

This book focuses on the different representations and cryptographic properties of Booleans functions, presents constructions of Boolean functions with some good cryptographic properties. More specifically, Walsh spectrum description of the traditional cryptographic properties of Boolean functions, including linear structure, propagation criterion, nonlinearity, and correlation immunity are presented. Constructions of symmetric Boolean functions and of Boolean permutations with good cryptographic properties are specifically studied. This book is not meant to be comprehensive, but with its own focus on some original research of the authors in the past. To be self content, some basic concepts and properties are introduced. This book can serve as a reference for cryptographic algorithm designers, particularly the designers of stream ciphers and of block ciphers, and for academics with interest in the cryptographic properties of Boolean functions.