SDA 3: An introduction to fuzzy sets

and systems
Fuzzy sets were introduced by Zadeh in
1965 to represent/manipulate data and
information possessing nonstatistical un-
certainties.
It was specically designed to mathe-
matically represent uncertainty and vague-
ness and to provide formalized tools for
dealing with the imprecision intrinsic to
many problems.
Fuzzy logic provides an inference mor-
1
phology that enables approximate human
reasoning capabilities to be applied to
knowledge-based systems.
The theory of fuzzy logic provides a math-
ematical strength to capture the uncer-
tainties associated with human cognitive
processes, such as thinking and reason-
ing.
Some of the essential characteristics of
fuzzy logic relate to the following (Zadeh,
1992):
In fuzzy logic, exact reasoning
is viewed as a limiting case of
2
approximate reasoning.
In fuzzy logic, everything is a
matter of degree.
In fuzzy logic, knowledge is in-
terpreted a collection of elastic
or, equivalently, fuzzy constraint
on a collection of variables.
Inference is viewed as a process
of propagation of elastic constraints.
Any logical systemcan be fuzzi-
ed.
There are two main characteristics of fuzzy
systems that give thembetter performance
for specic applications.
3
Fuzzy systems are suitable for uncer-
tain or approximate reasoning, espe-
cially for the system with a mathe-
matical model that is difcult to de-
rive.
Fuzzy logic allows decision making
with estimated values under incom-
plete or uncertain information.
In classical set theory, a subset A of a
set X can be dened by its characteris-
tic function
A
as a mapping from the
elements of X to the elements of the set
{0, 1},

A
: X {0, 1}.
4
This mapping may be represented as a
set of ordered pairs, with exactly one or-
dered pair present for each element of
X. The rst element of the ordered pair
is an element of the set X, and the sec-
ond element is an element of the set {0, 1}.
The value zero is used to represent non-
membership, and the value one is used
to represent membership. The truth or
falsity of the statement
x is in A
is determined by the ordered pair (x,
A
(x)).
The statement is true if the second el-
ement of the ordered pair is 1, and the
statement is false if it is 0.
5
Similarly, a fuzzy subset Aof a set X can
be dened as a set of ordered pairs, each
with the rst element from X, and the
second element from the interval [0, 1],
with exactly one ordered pair present for
each element of X.
This denes a mapping,
A
, between el-
ements of the set X and values in the
interval [0, 1].
The value zero is used to represent com-
plete non-membership, the value one
is used to represent complete member-
ship, and values in between are used
to represent intermediate degrees of
membership.
6
The set X is referred to as the universe
of discourse for the fuzzy subset A. Fre-
quently, the mapping
A
is described as
a function, the membership function of
A. The degree to which the statement
x is A
is true is determined by nding the or-
dered pair
(x,
A
(x)).
The degree of truth of the statement is
the second element of the ordered pair.
It should be noted that the terms mem-
bership function and fuzzy subset get used
interchangeably.
7
Denition 1. (Zadeh, 1965) Let X be a
nonempty set. A fuzzy set Ain X is char-
acterized by its membership function

A
: X [0, 1]
and
A
(x) is interpreted as the degree
of membership of element x in fuzzy set
A for each x X.
It is clear that Ais completely determined
by the set of tuples
A = {(x,
A
(x))|x X}
8
Frequently we will write simply A(x)
instead of
A
(x).
The family of all fuzzy (sub)sets in X is
denoted by F(X). Fuzzy subsets of the
real line are called fuzzy quantities.
Example 1. The membership function of
the fuzzy set of real numbers close to
1, is can be dened as
A(t) = exp((t 1)
2
)
where is a positive real number.
Let A be a fuzzy subset of X; the sup-
port of A, denoted supp(A), is the crisp
subset of X whose elements all have nonzero
membership grades in A.
9
Figure 1: A membership function for x is close to 1.
supp(A) = {x X|A(x) > 0}.
A fuzzy subset A of a classical set X
is called normal if there exists an x
X such that A(x) = 1. Otherwise A is
subnormal.
An -level set of a fuzzy set A of X is
a non-fuzzy set denoted by [A]

and is
dened by
10
[A]

=
_
{t X|A(t) } if > 0
cl(suppA) if = 0
where cl(suppA) denotes the closure of
the support of A.
Denition 2. (convex fuzzy set) A fuzzy
set A of X is called convex if [A]

is a
convex subset of X, [0, 1].
In many situations people are only able
to characterize numeric information im-
precisely. For example, people use terms
such as, about 5000, near zero, or essen-
tially bigger than 5000. These are exam-
ples of what are called fuzzy numbers.
11
Using the theory of fuzzy subsets we can
represent these fuzzy numbers as fuzzy
subsets of the set of real numbers. More
exactly,
A fuzzy number A is a fuzzy set of the
real line with a normal, (fuzzy) convex
and continuous membership function of
bounded support.
The family of fuzzy numbers will be de-
noted by F.
Figure 2: A fuzzy number.
12
Denition 3. A fuzzy set A is called tri-
angular fuzzy number with peak (or cen-
ter) a, left width > 0 and right width
> 0 if its membership function has the
following form
A(t) =
_

_
1
a t

if a t a
1
t a

if a t a +
0 otherwise
and we use the notation A = (a, , ).
The support of A is (a , b + ).
13
1
a
a-
a+
Figure 3: Triangular fuzzy number.
A triangular fuzzy number with center a
may be seen as a fuzzy quantity
x is approximately equal to a.
Denition 4. A fuzzy set Ais called trape-
zoidal fuzzy number with tolerance in-
terval [a, b], left width and right width
if its membership function has the fol-
lowing form
14
A(t) =
_

_
1
a t

if a t a
1 if a t b
1
t b

if a t b +
0 otherwise
and we use the notation A = (a, b, , ).
The support of A is (a , b + ).
Atrapezoidal fuzzy number may be seen
as a fuzzy quantity
x is approximately in the interval [a, b].
15
1
a
a-
b+
b
Figure 4: Trapezoidal fuzzy number.
Let A and B are fuzzy subsets of a clas-
sical set X. We say that A is a subset of
B (A B) if
A(t) B(t), t X.
Let A and B are fuzzy subsets of a clas-
sical set X. Aand B are said to be equal,
denoted A = B, if A B and B
16
A. We note that A = B if and only if
A(x) = B(x) for x X.
We extend the classical set theoretic op-
erations fromordinary set theory to fuzzy
sets. We note that all those operations
which are extensions of crisp concepts
reduce to their usual meaning when the
fuzzy subsets have membership degrees
that are drawn from {0, 1}.
For this reason, when extending opera-
tions to fuzzy sets we use the same sym-
bol as in set theory. Let A and B are
fuzzy subsets of a nonempty (crisp) set
X.
17
A
B
Denition 5. The intersection of A and
B is dened as
(AB)(t) = min{A(t), B(t)} = A(t)B(t),
for all t X.
Figure 5: Intersection of two triangular fuzzy numbers.
Denition 6. (union) The union of Aand
B is dened as
(AB)(t) = max{A(t), B(t)} = A(t)B(t),
for all t X.
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A
B
Figure 6: Union of two triangular fuzzy numbers.
Denition 7. (complement) The comple-
ment of a fuzzy set A is dened as
(A)(t) = 1 A(t).
Aclosely related pair of properties which
hold in ordinary set theory are the law of
excluded middle
A A = X,
and the law of noncontradiction princi-
19
A
not A
ple
A A = .
It is clear that 1
X
= and = 1
X
,
however, the laws of excluded middle
and noncontradiction are not satised in
fuzzy logic.
Figure 7: A and its complement.
Lemma 1. The law of excluded middle
is not valid. Let A(t) = 1/2, t R,
then it is easy to see that
(A A)(t) = max{A(t), A(t)}
= max{1 1/2, 1/2} = 1/2 = 1.
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Lemma 2. The law of noncontradiction
is not valid. Let A(t) = 1/2, t R,
then it is easy to see that
(A A)(t) = min{A(t), A(t)} =
min{1 1/2, 1/2} = 1/2 = 0
However, fuzzy logic does satisfy De Mor-
gans laws
(AB) = AB, (AB) = AB.
The use of fuzzy sets provides a basis
for a systematic way for the manipula-
tion of vague and imprecise concepts. In
particular, we can employ fuzzy sets to
represent linguistic variables.
21
A linguistic variable can be regarded ei-
ther as a variable whose value is a fuzzy
number or as a variable whose values are
dened in linguistic terms.
Denition 8. A linguistic variable is char-
acterized by a quintuple
(x, T(x), U, G, M)
in which
x is the name of variable;
T(x) is the term set of x, that is, the
set of names of linguistic values of x
with each value being a fuzzy number
dened on U;
22
speed
slow
medium
fast
40 55 70
1
G is a syntactic rule for generating
the names of values of x;
and M is a semantic rule for associ-
ating with each value its meaning.
Figure 8: Values of linguistic variable speed.
For example, if speed is interpreted as
a linguistic variable, then its term set T
(speed) could be
T = {slow, moderate, fast, very slow,
more or less fast, sligthly slow, . . . }
where each term in T (speed) is charac-
23
terized by a fuzzy set in a universe of
discourse U = [0, 100]. We might inter-
pret
slowas a speed belowabout 40 mph
moderate as a speed close to 55 mph
fast as a speed above about 70 mph
These terms can be characterized as fuzzy
sets whose membership functions are shown
in the gure below.
In many practical applications we nor-
malize the domain of inputs and use the
following type of fuzzy partition
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NB
PB
PM
PS
ZE
NS NM
-1 1
Figure 9: A possible fuzzy partition of [1, 1].
NB (Negative Big),
NM (Negative Medium)
NS (Negative Small),
ZE (Zero)
PS (Positive Small),
PM (Positive Medium)
PB (Positive Big)
If Aa fuzzy set in X then we can modify
the meaning of A with the help of words
such as very, more or less, slightly, etc.
25
For example, the membership function
of fuzzy sets very A and more or less
A can be dened by
(very A)(x) = (A(x))
2
,
(more or less A)(x) =
_
A(x), x X
Truth also can be interpreted as linguis-
tic variable with a possible term set
T = {Absolutely false, Very false,
False, Fairly true, True, Very true,
Absolutely true}
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One may dene the membership func-
tion of linguistic terms of truth as
True(u) = u, False(u) = 1 u
for each u [0, 1], and
Absolutely false(u) =
_
1 if u = 0
0 otherwise
Absolutely true(u) =
_
1 if u = 1
0 otherwise
27
Bellman and Zadehs principle to fuzzy
decision making
R.A.Bellman and L.A.Zadeh, Decision-
making in a fuzzy environment, Man-
agement Sciences, Ser. B 17(1970) 141-
164.
A classical MADM problem can be ex-
pressed in a matrix format.
The decision matrix is an m n matrix
whose element x
ij
indicates the perfor-
mance rating of the i-th alternative, a
i
,
with respect to the j-th attribute, X
j
:
28
a
1
a
2
.
.
.
a
m
_
_
_
_
_
x
11
x
12
. . . x
1n
x
21
x
22
. . . x
2n
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
x
m1
x
m2
. . . x
mn
_
_
_
_
_
The classical maximin method is dened
as: choose a
k
such that
s
k
= max
i=1,...,m
s
i
= max
i
min
j
x
ij
.
where
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s
i
= min
j=1,...,n
x
ij
i.e., s
i
the security level of a
i
, i.e. a
i
guarantees the decision maker a return
of at least s
i
Example 2.
John
Mary
Kate
Mathematics English History
5 8 10
6 6 7
10 7 5
Mary is selected if we use the maximin
method, because her minimal performance
30
is the maximal.
The overall performance of an alterna-
tive is determined by its weakest perfor-
mance: A chain is only as strong as its
weakest link.
The classical maximax return criterion
is: choose a
k
such that
o
k
= max
i=1,...,m
o
i
= max
i
max
j
x
ij
.
where
o
i
= max
j=1,...,n
x
ij
.
is the best performance of a
i
.
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Example 3.
John
Mary
Kate
Math English History
5 8 10
6 6 7
10 7 5
John or Kate are selected if we use the
maximax method, because their maximal
performances provide the global maxi-
mum.
In fuzzy case the values of the decision
matrix are given as degrees of how an
alternative satises a certain attribute.
For each attribute X
j
we are given a fuzzy
32
7
10
Math
8
set
j
measuring the degrees of satisfac-
tion to the j-th attribute.

Math
(t) =
_
1 (8 t)/8 if t 8
1 otherwise
Figure 10: Membership function for attribute Math.

English
(t) =
_
1 (7 t)/7 if t 7
1 otherwise
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7
10
English
8
7
10
8
6
History
Figure 11: Membership function for attribute English.

History
(t) =
_
1 (6 t)/6 if t 6
1 otherwise
Figure 12: Membership function for attribute History.
34
John
Mary
Kate
Math English History
5/8 1 1
6/8 6/7 1
1 1 5/6
Bellman and Zadehs principle to fuzzy
decision making chooses the best com-
promise alternative using the maximin
method:
score(John) = min{5/8, 1, 1} = 5/8
score(Mary) = min{6/8, 6/7, 1} = 6/8
score(Kate) = min{1, 1, 5/6} = 5/6
Because,
score(Kate) = max{5/8, 6/8, 5/6}
35
Therefore, Kate is choosen as the best
student.
If we have a continuous problem, which
means that we have innite number of
alternatives then suppose that
C
1
, C
2
, . . . , C
n
are the membership functions corespond-
ing to attributes X
1
, X
2
, . . . , X
n
, respec-
tively.
Let x be an object such that for any cri-
terion C
j
, C
j
(x) [0, 1] indicates the
36
degree to which this criterion is satised
by x.
If we want to nd out the degree to which
x satises
all the criteria
denoting this by D(x), we get following
D(x) = min{C
1
(x), . . . , C
n
(x)}.
In this case we are essentially requiring
x to satisfy
C
1
and C
2
and . . . and C
n
.
37
C_1
C_2
1
3 5
7
The best alternative, denoted by x

, is
determined from the relationship
D(x

) = max
xX
D(x)
This method is called Bellman and Zadehs
principle to fuzzy decision making.
The rst attribute called x should be
38
close to 3 is represented by the fuzzy
set C
1
dened by
C
1
(x) =
_
1 |3 x|/2 if |3 x| 2
0 otherwise
The second attribute called x should be
close to 5 is represented by the fuzzy
set C
2
dened by
C
2
(x) =
_
1 |5 x|/2 if |5 x| 2
0 otherwise
The fuzzy decision D is dened by the
39
intersection of C
1
and C
2
and the mem-
bership function of D is
D(x) =
_
1/2(1 |4 x|) if |4 x| 1
0 otherwise
The optimal solution is
x

= 4
because
D(4) = 1/2 = max
x
D(x).
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