Learning Complex Boolean Functions: Algorithms and Applications

The most commonly used neural network models are not well suited to direct digital implementations because each node needs to perform alarge number of operations between floating point values. Fortunately, the ability to learn from examples and to generalize is not restricted to networks ofthis type. Indeed, networks where each node implements a simple Boolean function (Boolean networks) can be designed in such a way as to exhibit similar properties. Two algorithms that generate Boolean networks from examples are presented. Theresults show that these algorithms generalize very well in a class of problems that accept compact Boolean network descriptions.