Horn Functions with a Single Two-Negated Term

Abstract

Horn functions are Boolean functions where each of the prime implicants contains at most one negative literal. A class of Boolean functions is considered in this letter where a single term containing two negative literals is added by logical-or operation to a Horn function. We show that the function does not have any prime implicant containing three negative literals. We also show that if two terms containing two negative literals are added to a Horn function, then it may have many prime implicants all of which contain three negative literals. We show that it is P-complete to determine whether a given Boolean function in disjunctive normal form of the considered class is a tautology.