Bent function

Imagine you have two boxes with buttons on them. One box has four buttons, and the other box has eight buttons. Each button in the first box is either red or blue, while each button in the second box is either green or yellow.

Now, you also have a special tool called a function that takes in a combination of button presses and outputs either a red or a blue light.

A bent function is a type of function that has some special rules. If you press a certain combination of buttons in one box and it gives you a blue light, then there must be another combination of buttons in the other box that will also give you a blue light when you press them in the same way.

For example, if you press the first, second, and fourth buttons in the first box and get a red light, there must be some combination of buttons in the second box that will also give you a red light when you press them in the same order.

Scientists and mathematicians study bent functions to better understand how they work and how they might be used to help with things like cryptography (which is when we try to keep information safe and secure).