Minimal Coverings of Maximal Partial Clones

Abstract

A partial function f on a k-element set Ek is a partial Sheffer function if every partial function on Ek is definable in terms of f. Since this holds if and only if f belongs to no maximal partial clone on Ek, a characterization of partial Sheffer functions reduces to finding families of minimal coverings of maximal partial clones on Ek. We show that for each k ≫= 3 there exists a unique minimal covering.