CHAPTER 7

INTRODUCTION TO
CLASSICAL SETS AND
FUZZY SETS

1
 FUZZY LOGIC
 Fuzzy logic is the logic underlying approximate, rather than
exact, modes of reasoning.

 It is an extension of multivalued logic: Everything, including

truth, is a matter of degree.

 It contains as special cases not only the classical two-value

logic and multivalue logic systems, but also probabilistic
logic.

 A proposition p has a truth value

• 0 or 1 in two-value system,
• element of a set T in multivalue system,
• Range over the fuzzy subsets of T in fuzzy logic.

2
 FUZZY LOGIC

 Fuzzy logic is a set of mathematical principles for

knowledge representation and reasoning based on degrees
of membership.

3
TYPES AND MODELING
OF UNCERTAINTY

4
FUZZY vs PROBABILITY

 Fuzzy ≠ Probability

 Probability deals with uncertainty an

likelihood

 Fuzzy logic deals with ambiguity an

vagueness

5
FUZZY vs PROBABILITY

6
 NEED OF FUZZY
LOGIC
 Based on intuition and judgment.

 No need for a mathematical model.

 Provides a smooth transition between

members and nonmembers.

 Relatively simple, fast and adaptive.

 Less sensitive to system fluctuations.

 Can implement design objectives, difficult

to express mathematically, in linguistic or
descriptive rules.
7
CLASSICAL SETS (CRISP
SETS)
Conventional or crisp sets are
Binary. An element either belongs to
the set or does not.

{True, False}

{1, 0}

8
CRISP SETS

9
 OPERATIONS ON CRISP
SETS
 UNION:

 INTERSECTION:

 COMPLEMENT:

 DIFFERENCE:

10
 PROPERTIES OF CRISP
The various properties ofSETS
crisp sets are as follows:

11
PROPERTIES OF CRISP
SETS

12
FUZZY SETS

13
FUZZY SETS

14
FUZZY SETS

15
OPERATIONS ON FUZZY
SETS

16
PROPERTIES OF FUZZY
SETS

17
PROPERTIES OF FUZZY
SETS

18
PROPERTIES OF FUZZY
SETS

19
 RELATIONS
 Relations represent mappings between sets
and connectives in logic.

 A classical binary relation represents the

presence or absence of a connection or
interaction or association between the
elements of two sets.

 Fuzzy binary relations are a generalization

of crisp binary relations, and they allow
various degrees of relationship (association)
between elements.

20
CRISP CARTESIAN
PRODUCT

21
CRISP RELATIONS

22
CRISP RELATIONS

23
 CRISP BINARY
RELATIONS
Examples of binary relations

24
OPERATIONS ON CRISP
RELATIONS

25
 PROPERTIES OF CRISP
RELATIONS
The properties of crisp sets (given below)
hold good for crisp relations as well.

 Commutativity,
 Associativity,
 Distributivity,
 Involution,
 Idempotency,
 DeMorgan’s Law,
 Excluded Middle Laws.
26
COMPOSITION ON CRISP
RELATIONS

27
 FUZZY CARTESIAN
PRODUCT
Let R be a fuzzy subset of M and S be a fuzzy subset of N.
Then the Cartesian product R × S is a fuzzy subset of N ×
M such that

Example:
Let R be a fuzzy subset of {a, b, c} such that R = a/1 + b/0.8
+ c/0.2 and S be a fuzzy subset of {1, 2, 3} such that S =
1/1 + 3/0.8 + 2/0.5. Then R x S is given by

28
FUZZY RELATION

29
FUZZY RELATION

30
 OPERATIONS ON FUZZY
RELATION
The basic operation on fuzzy sets also apply on fuzzy
relations.

31
OPERATIONS ON FUZZY
RELATION

32
 PROPERTIES OF FUZZY
RELATIONS
The properties of fuzzy sets (given below)
hold good for fuzzy relations as well.

 Commutativity,
 Associativity,
 Distributivity,
 Involution,
 Idempotency,
 DeMorgan’s Law,
 Excluded Middle Laws.
33
COMPOSITION OF FUZZY
RELATIONS

34
COMPOSITION OF FUZZY
RELATIONS

35
COMPOSITION OF FUZZY
RELATIONS

36
COMPOSITION OF FUZZY
RELATIONS

37
CLASSICAL EQUIVALENCE
RELATION

38
CLASSICAL TOLERANCE
RELATION

39
FUZZY EQUIVALENCE
RELATION

40
 FUZZY TOLERANCE
RELATION
A binary fuzzy relation that possesses the properties of
reflexivity and symmetry is called fuzzy tolerance
relation or resemblance relation.

The equivalence relations are a special case of the

tolerance relation. The fuzzy tolerance relation can be
reformed into fuzzy equivalence relation in the same
way as a crisp tolerance relation is reformed into crisp
equivalence relation, i.e.,

where ‘n’ is the cardinality of the set that defines R1.

41
 CRISP MEMBERSHIP
FUCNTIONS
 Crisp membership functions (µ ) are either one or zero.

 Consider the example: Numbers greater than 10. The

membership curve for the set A is given by

42
REPRESENTING A
DOMAIN IN FUZZY
LOGIC

43
FUZZY MEMBERSHIP
FUCNTIONS

44
 FUZZY MEMBERSHIP
FUCNTIONS
The set B of numbers approaching 2 can be represented by
the membership function

45
FUZZINESS vs
PROBABILITY

46
LINGUISTIC VARIABLE

47
 LINGUISTIC VARIABLE
 Let x be a linguistic variable with the label “speed”.
 Terms of x, which are fuzzy sets, could be “positive low”,
“negative high” from the term set T:

T = {PostiveHigh, PositiveLow, NegativeLow,

NegativeHigh, Zero}

 Each term is a fuzzy variable defined on the base variable

which might be the scale of all relevant velocities.

48
MEMBERSHIP FUCNTIONS

49
MEMBERSHIP FUCNTIONS

50
 FEATURES OF
MEMBERSHIP FUNCTIONS

 CORE:

 SUPPORT:

 BOUNDARY:

51
FUZZIFICATION

52
 FUZZIFICATION
 Use crisp inputs from the user.

 Determine membership values for all the relevant

classes (i.e., in right Universe of Discourse).

53
 EXAMPLE -
FUZZIFICATION

54
FUZZIFICATION OF
HEIGHT

55
FUZZIFICATION OF
WEIGHT

56
 METHODS OF
MEMBERSHIP VALUE
ASSIGNMENT
The various methods of assigning membership values are:

 Intuition,

 Inference,

 Rank ordering,

 Angular fuzzy sets,

 Neural networks,

 Genetic algorithm,

 Inductive reasoning.
57
 DEFUZZIFICATION
 Defuzzification is a mapping process from a space of
fuzzy control actions defined over an output universe of
discourse into a space of crisp (nonfuzzy) control
actions.

 Defuzzification is a process of converting output

fuzzy variable into a unique number .

 Defuzzification process has the capability to reduce a

fuzzy set into a crisp single-valued quantity or into a
crisp set; to convert a fuzzy matrix into a crisp matrix;
or to convert a fuzzy number into a crisp number.

58
LAMBDA CUT FOR FUZZY
SETS

59
LAMBDA CUT FOR FUZZY
RELATIONS

60
 METHODS OF
DEFUZZIFICATION
Defuzzification is the process of conversion of a fuzzy quantity
into a precise quantity. Defuzzification methods include:

 Max-membership principle,

 Centroid method,

 Weighted average method,

 Mean-max membership,

 Center of sums,

 Center of largest area,

 First of maxima, last of maxima.

61
FUZZY DECISION

62
 MAX MEMBERSHIP
 Fuzzy set with the METHOD
largest membership value is selected.
 Fuzzy decision: Fn = {P, F. G, VG, E}
Fn = {0.6, 0.4, 0.2, 0.2, 0}
 Final decision (FD) = Poor Student
 If two decisions have same membership max, use the
average of the two.

63
 CENTROID METHOD
This method is also known as center-of-mass, center-of-
area, or center-of-gravity method. It is the most commonly
used defuzzification method. The defuzzified output x* is
defined as

where the symbol ∫ denotes an algebraic integration.

64
WEIGHTED AVERAGE
METHOD

65
MEAN MAX MEMBERSHIP
METHOD

66
 CENTER OF SUMS
This method employs the algebraic sum of the individual
fuzzy subsets instead of their unions. The calculations here
are very fast but the main drawback is that the intersecting
areas are added twice. The defuzzified value x* is given by

67
 CENTER OF LARGEST AREA
This method can be adopted when the output consists of at least two
convex fuzzy subsets which are not overlapping. The output in this
case is biased towards a side of one membership function. When
output fuzzy set has at least two convex regions then the center-of-
gravity of the convex fuzzy subregion having the largest area is used to
obtain the defuzzified value x*. This value is given by

where is the convex subregion that has the largest area making
up

68
FIRST OF MAXIMA (LAST OF
MAXIMA)
The steps used for obtaining crisp values are as follows:

69
 SUMMARY
Defuzzification process is essential because some
engineering applications need exact values for
performing the operation.

Example: If speed of a motor has to be varied, we

cannot instruct to raise it “slightly”, “high”, etc.,
using linguistic variables; rather, it should be
specified as raise it by 200 rpm or so, i.e., a
specific amount of raise should be mentioned.

The method of defuzzification should be assessed

on the basis of the output in the context of data
available.

70
 FUZZY ARITHMETIC
 Distributions do not have to be precise.

 Requires no assumption about

correlations.

 Fuzzy measures are upper bounds on

probability.

 Fuzzy arithmetic might be a conservative

way to do risk assessments.

71
 FUZZY NUMBERS AND
THEIR ARITHMETIC
 Fuzzy numbers
• Fuzzy sets of the real line,
• Unimodal,
• Reach possibility level one.

 Fuzzy arithmetic
• Interval arithmetic at each possibility level.

72
 FEATURES OF FUZZY
ARITHMETIC
 Fully developed arithmetic and logic
• Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, min,
max;
• Log, exp, sqrt, abs, powers, and, or, not;
• Backcalculation, updating, mixtures, etc.

 Very fast calculation and convenient software.

 Very easy to explain.

 Distributional answers (not just worst case).

 Results robust to choice about shape.

73
 TYPES OF NUMBERS
 Scalars are well-known or mathematically
defined integers and real numbers.

 Intervals are numbers whose values are not

know with certainty but about which bounds
can be established.

 Fuzzy numbers are uncertain numbers for

which, in addition to knowing a range of
possible values, one can say that some values
are more plausible than others.

74
 FUZZY NUMBERS
 Fuzzy set that is unimodal and reaches 1.

 Nested stack of intervals.

1
no no YES
0.5

75
LEVEL-WISE INTERVAL
ARITHMETIC

76
FUZZY INTERVALS BY TRAPEZOIDAL
SHAPES

77
 FUZZY ADDITION
1
A B A+B
0.5

0
0 2 4 6 8

 Subtraction, multiplication, division, minimum, maximum,

exponentiation, logarithms, etc. are also defined.

 If distributions are multimodal, possibility theory (rather

than just simple fuzzy arithmetic) is required.

78
 FUZZY ARITHMETIC
Interval Arithmetic
[a, b] + [d, e] = [a+d, b+e]
[a, b] - [d, e] = [a-e, b-d]
[a, b] x [d, e] = [min(a.d, a.e, b.d, b.e), max(a.d, a.e, b.d, b.e)]
[a, b]/[d, e] = [min(a/d, a/e, b/d, b/e), max(a/d, a/e, b/d, b/e)]

79
FUZZY ARITHMETIC

80
FUZZY ARITHMETIC

81
EXTENSION PRINCIPLE

82
 VARIOUS FUZZY
MEASURES
 Belief and Plausibility Measure.

 Probability Measure.

 Possibility and Necessity Measure.

83
 POSSIBILITY MEASURE
 No single definition.

 Many definitions could be used:

• Subjective assessments.
• Social consensus.
• Measurement error.
• Upper betting rates (Giles)
• Extra-observational ranges (Gaines).

84
FUZZY SET AS POSSIBILITY
MEASURE

85
 GETTING FUZZY INPUTS
 Subjective assignments:
• Make them up from highest, lowest and
best-guess estimates.

 Objective consensus:
• Stack up consistent interval estimates or
bridge inconsistent ones.

 Measurement error:
• Infer from measurement protocols.

86
 SUBJECTIVE
ASSIGNMENTS
 Triangular fuzzy numbers, e.g. [1,2,3].

 Trapezoidal fuzzy numbers, e.g. [1,2,3,4].

1 1
Possibility

0.5 0.5

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 0 1 2 3 4 5
87
 OBJECTIVE CONSENSUS

 [1000, 3000]
1
 [2000, 2400]
 [500, 2500]
 [800, 4000]
[1900, 2300] Possibility

0.5

0
0 2000 4000
88
 MEASUREMENT ERROR
1

Possibility
 46.8 ± 0.3
 [46.5, 46.8, 47.1]
0
46.5 46.7 46.9 47.1

Possibility
 [12.32]
 [12.315, 12.32, 12.325]
0
12.31 12.32 12.33

89
SHAPE OF X AFFECTING
aX+b

90
 ROBUSTNESS OF THE
ANSWER
Different choices for the fuzzy number X all
yield very similar distributions for aX + b

91
 PROBABILITY MEASURE

A fuzzy number F is said to “enclose” a probability

distribution P if,

• the left side of F is larger than P(x) for each x,

• the right side of F is larger than 1-P(x) for each x.

For every event X < x and x < X, possibility is larger

than the probability, so it is an upper bound.

92
POSSIBILITY MEASURE

93
 ADVANTAGES OF FUZZY
ARITHMETIC
 Requires little data.
 Applicable to all kinds of uncertainty.
 Fully comprehensive.
 Fast and easy to compute.
 Doesn’t require information about correlations.
 Conservative, but not hyper-conservative
 In between worst case and probability.
 Backcalculations easy to solve.

94
 LIMITATIONS OF FUZZY
ARITHMETIC
 Controversial.
 Are alpha levels comparable for different
variables?
 Not optimal when there're a lot of data.
 Can’t use knowledge of correlations to tighten
answers.
 Not conservative against all possible
dependencies.
 Repeated variables make calculations
cumbersome.

95
 SOFTWARES FOR FUZZY
ARITHMETIC
 FuziCalc
• (Windows 3.1) FuziWare, 800-472-6183

 Fuzzy Arithmetic C++ Library

• (C code) anonymous ftp to mathct.dipmat.unict.it
and get \fuzzy\fznum*.*

 Cosmet (Phaser)
• (DOS, soon for Windows) [email protected]

 Risk Calc
• (Windows) 800-735-4350; www.ramas.com

96
SCREEN SHOT OF FUZZY
CALCULATOR - FzCalc

97
 SUMMARY

This chapter has given an overview

on Fuzzy Arithmetic and Fuzzy
Measures.

98
 FUZZY RULES AND
REASONING
The degree of an element in a fuzzy
set corresponds to the truth value of a
proposition in fuzzy logic systems.

99
 LINGUISTIC VARIABLES
 A linguistic variable is a fuzzy variable.

• The linguistic variable speed ranges between 0 and 300 km/h

and includes the fuzzy sets slow, very slow, fast, …
• Fuzzy sets define the linguistic values.

 Hedges are qualifiers of a linguistic variable.

• All purpose: very, quite, extremely

• Probability: likely, unlikely
• Quantifiers: most, several, few
• Possibilities: almost impossible, quite possible

100
 LINGUISTIC HEDGES
(LINGUISTIC
QUANTIFIERS)
 Hedges modify the shape of a fuzzy set.

101
 TRUTH TABLES
Truth tables define logic functions of two
propositions. Let X and Y be two propositions,
either of which can be true or false.

The operations over the propositions are:

1.Conjunction (∧): X AND Y.

2.Disjunction (∨): X OR Y.

3.Implication or conditional (⇒): IF X THEN Y.

4.Bidirectional or equivalence (⇔): X IF AND ONLY IF Y.

102
 FUZZY RULES

A fuzzy rule is defined as the conditional statement

of the form

If x is A
THEN y is B

where x and y are linguistic variables and A and B

are linguistic values determined by fuzzy sets on
the universes of discourse X and Y.

103
 FUZZY RULES
 The decision-making process is based on rules with
sentence conjunctives AND, OR and ALSO.

 Each rule corresponds to a fuzzy relation.

 Rules belong to a rule base.

 Example:
If (Distance x to second car is SMALL) OR
(Distance y to obstacle is CLOSE) AND (speed v is
HIGH) THEN (perform LARGE correction to steering
angle θ ) ALSO (make MEDIUM reduction in speed v).

 Three antecedents (or premises) in this example give rise

to two outputs (consequences).

104
FUZZY RULE FORMATION

IF height is tall
THEN weight is heavy.

Here the fuzzy classes height and weight have

a given range (i.e., the universe of discourse).

range (height) = [140, 220]

range (weight) = [50, 250]

105
 FORMATION OF FUZZY
RULES
Three general forms are adopted for forming
fuzzy rules. They are:

 Assignment statements,

 Conditional statements,

 Unconditional statements.
106
 FORMATION OF FUZZY
RULES
Assignment Statements Unconditional Statements

Conditional Statements

107
 DECOMPOSITION OF
FUZZY RULES
A compound rule is a collection of several simple
rules combined together.

 Multiple conjunctive antecedent,

 Multiple disjunctive antecedent,

 Conditional statements (with ELSE and

UNLESS).

108
 DECOMPOSITION OF
FUZZY RULES
Multiple Conjunctive
Multiple disjunctive
Antecedants
antecedent

Conditional Statements ( With Else and Unless)

109
AGGREGATION OF FUZZY
RULES
Aggregation of rules is the process of
obtaining the overall consequents from the
individual consequents provided by each rule.

 Conjunctive system of rules.

 Disjunctive system of rules.

110
 AGGREGATION OF FUZZY
RULES
Conjunctive system of rules

Disjunctive system of rules

111
 FUZZY RULE - EXAMPLE

Rule 1: If height is short then weight is

light.

Rule 2: If height is medium then weight is

medium.

Rule 3: If height is tall then weight is

heavy.

112
 FUZZY RULE - EXAMPLE

Problem: Given
(a) membership functions for short,
medium-height, tall, light, medium-weight
and heavy;
(b) The three fuzzy rules;
(c) the fact that John’s height is 6’1”
estimate John’s weight.

113
 FUZZY RULE - EXAMPLE
Solution:
(1) From John’s height we know that
John is short (degree 0.3)
John is of medium height (degree 0.6).
John is tall (degree 0.2).
(2) Each rule produces a fuzzy set as output by
truncating the consequent membership function
at the value of the antecedent membership.

114
FUZZY RULE - EXAMPLE

115
FUZZY RULE - EXAMPLE

116
FUZZY RULE - EXAMPLE

117
 FUZZY RULE - EXAMPLE
 The cumulative fuzzy output is obtained by OR-
ing the output from each rule.
 Cumulative fuzzy output (weight at 6’1”).

118
 FUZZY RULE - EXAMPLE
1. De-fuzzify to obtain a numerical
estimate of the output.

2. Choose the middle of the range where

the truth value is maximum.

3. John’s weight = 80 Kg.

119
 FUZZY REASONING

There exist four modes of fuzzy

approximate reasoning, which include:
1. Categorical reasoning,
2. Qualitative reasoning,
3. Syllogistic reasoning,
4. Dispositional reasoning.

120
REASONING WITH FUZZY
RULES
 In classical systems, rules with true
antecedents fire.

 In fuzzy systems, truth (i.e.,

membership in some class) is relative, so
all rules fire (to some extent).

121
REASONING WITH FUZZY
RULES

122
 SINGLE RULE WITH
SINGLE ANTECEDANT

123
 SINGLE RULE WITH
MULTIPLE ANTECEDANTS

124
 MULTIPLE ANTECEDANTS
IF x is A AND y is B THEN z is C
IF x is A OR y is B THEN z is C

Use unification (OR) or intersection (AND) operations to

calculate a membership value for the whole antecedent.

125
 MULTIPLE RULE WITH
MULTIPLE ANTECEDANTS

126
MULTIPLE CONSEQUENTS

IF x is A THEN y is B AND z is C

Each consequent is affected equally by the

membership in the antecedent class(es).

E.g., IF x is tall THEN x is heavy AND x has

large feet.

127
 FUZZY INFERENCE
SYSTEMS (FIS)
 Fuzzy rule based systems, fuzzy models, and
fuzzy expert systems are also known as fuzzy
inference systems.

 The key unit of a fuzzy logic system is FIS.

 The primary work of this system is decision-

making.

 FIS uses “IF...THEN” rules along with connectors

“OR” or “AND” for making necessary decision rules.

128
 FUZZY INFERENCE
SYSTEMS
 The input to FIS may be fuzzy or crisp, but the
output from FIS is always a fuzzy set.

 When FIS is used as a controller, it is

necessary to have crisp output.

 Hence, there should be a defuzzification unit

for converting fuzzy variables into crisp variables
along FIS.
129
BLOCK DIAGRAM OF FIS

130
 TYPES OF FIS

There are two types of Fuzzy Inference

Systems:

 Mamdani FIS(1975)

 Sugeno FIS(1985)

131
 MAMDANI FUZZY
INFERENCE SYSTEMS
(FIS)
 Fuzzify input variables:
Determine membership values.

 Evaluate rules:
Based on membership values of (composite)
antecedents.

 Aggregate rule outputs:

Unify all membership values for the output from
all rules.

 Defuzzify the output:

COG: Center of gravity (approx. by summation).

132
 SUGENO FUZZY
INFERENCE SYSTEMS
(FIS)
The main steps of the fuzzy inference process namely,
1.fuzzifying the inputs and
2.applying the fuzzy operator
are exactly the same as in MAMDANI FIS.

The main difference between Mamdani’s and Sugeno’s methods

is that Sugeno output membership functions are either linear or
constant.

133
SUGENO FIS

134
 FUZZY EXPERT SYSTEMS
An expert system contains three major blocks:

 Knowledge base that contains the knowledge

specific to the domain of application.

 Inference engine that uses the knowledge in the

knowledge base for performing suitable reasoning
for user’s queries.

 User interface that provides a smooth

communication between the user and the system.

135
 BLOCK DIAGRAM OF
FUZZY EXPERT SYSTEMS

Examples of Fuzzy Expert System include

Z-II, MILORD.
136
 SUMMARY
 Advantages of fuzzy logic
• Allows the use of vague linguistic terms in the
rules.
 Disadvantages of fuzzy logic
• Difficult to estimate membership function
• There are many ways of interpreting fuzzy
rules, combining the outputs of several fuzzy
rules and de-fuzzifying the output.

137
 FUZZY DECISION MAKING
Decision making is a very important social,
economical and scientific endeavor.

The decision-making process involves

three steps:
1. Determining the set of alternatives,
2. Evaluating alternatives,
3. Comparison between alternatives.

April 2007 138

 FUZZY DECISION MAKING
Certain fuzzy decision-making process are as
follows:
 Individual decision making,
 Multiperson decision making,
 Multiobjective decision making,
 Multiattribute decision making,
 Fuzzy Bayesian decision making.

April 2007 139

 INDIVIDUAL DECISION
MAKING

April 2007 140

 MULTIPERSON DECISION
MAKING
In multiperson decision making, the decision makers have
access to different information upon which to base their
decision.

April 2007 141

 MULTIOBJECTIVE DECISION
MAKING
In making a decision when there are several objectives to be
realized, then the decision making is called multiobjective
decision making.

Many decision processes may be based on single objectives

such as cost minimization, time consumption, profit
maximization and so on.

The main issues in multiobjective decision making are:

 To acquire proper information related to the satisfaction of

the objectives by various alternatives.
 To weigh the relative importance of each objective.

April 2007 142

 MULTIATTRIBUTE DECISION
MAKING
 The evaluation of alternatives can be carried out
based on several attributes of the object called
multiattribute decision making.

 The attributes may be classified into numerical

data, linguistic data and qualitative data.

April 2007 143

 MULTIATTRIBUTE DECISION
MAKING
The problem of decision-making structure in multiattributes
deals with determination of an evaluation structure for the
multiattribute decision making from the available
multiattribute data xi (i = 1 to n) and alternative evaluations
y shown in the table.

April 2007 144

 FUZZY BAYESIAN DECISION
MAKING
 Probability theory.
 Bayesian inference:
• Use probability theory and information about
independence.
• Reason diagnostically [from evidence (effects) to
conclusions (causes)] or casually (from causes to
effects).
 Bayesian networks:
• Compact representation of probability distribution over a
set of propositional random variables.
• Take advantage of independence relationships.

April 2007 145

 FUZZY BAYESIAN DECISION
MAKING

April 2007 146

 FUZZY BAYESIAN DECISION
MAKING
Expected Utility

April 2007 147

 FUZZY BAYESIAN DECISION
MAKING

April 2007 148

 SUMMARY
The chapter has discussed the various decision-making
process.

In many decision-making situations, the goals, constraints

and consequences of the defined alternatives are known
imprecisely, which is due to ambiguity and vagueness.

Methods for addressing this form of imprecision are

important for dealing with many of the uncertainties we
deal within human systems.

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