This introduction to fuzzy set theory and its multitude of applications seeks to balance the character of the book with the dynamic nature of the research. This edition includes new chapters on possibility theory, fuzzy logic and approximate reasoning, expert systems, fuzzy control, fuzzy data analysis, decision making and fuzzy set models in operations research. Existing material has been updated, and extended exercises are included.

It is well known that “fuzziness”—informationgranulesand fuzzy sets as one of its formal manifestations— is one of important characteristics of human cognitionandcomprehensionofreality. Fuzzy phenomena existinnature and are encountered quite vividly within human society. The notion of a fuzzy set has been introduced by L. A. , Zadeh in 1965 in order to formalize human concepts, in connection with the representation of human natural language and computing with words. Fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic are used for mod- ing imprecise modes of reasoning that play a pivotal role in the remarkable human abilities to make rational decisions in an environment a?ected by - certainty and imprecision. A growing number of applications of fuzzy sets originated from the “empirical-semantic” approach. From this perspective, we were focused on some practical interpretations of fuzzy sets rather than being oriented towards investigations of the underlying mathematical str- tures of fuzzy sets themselves. For instance, in the context of control theory where fuzzy sets have played an interesting and practically relevant function, the practical facet of fuzzy sets has been stressed quite signi?cantly. However, fuzzy sets can be sought as an abstract concept with all formal underpinnings stemming from this more formal perspective. In the context of applications, it is worth underlying that membership functions do not convey the same meaning at the operational level when being cast in various contexts.

It took many decades for Peirce's coneept of a relation to find its way into the microelectronic innards of control systems of eement kilns, subway trains, and tunnel-digging machinery. But what is amazing is that the more we leam about the basically simple coneept of a relation, the more aware we become of its fundamental importanee and wide ranging ramifications. The work by Di Nola, Pedrycz, Sanchez, and Sessa takes us a long distanee in this direction by opening new vistas on both the theory and applications of fuzzy relations - relations which serve to model the imprecise coneepts which pervade the real world. Di Nola, Pedrycz, Sanchez, and Sessa focus their attention on a eentral problem in the theory of fuzzy relations, namely the solution of fuzzy relational equations. The theory of such equations was initiated by Sanchez in 1976, ina seminal paper dealing with the resolution of composite fuzzy relational equations. Sinee then, hundreds of papers have been written on this and related topics, with major contributions originating in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Japan, China, the Soviet Union, India, and other countries. The bibliography included in this volume highlights the widespread interest in the theory of fuzzy relational equations and the broad spectrum of its applications.

This book develops the concepts of various unique optimization techniques in the crisp and fuzzy environment. It provides an extensive overview of geometric programming methods within a unifying framework, and presents an in-depth discussion of the modified geometric programming problem, fuzzy geometric programming, as well as new insights into goal geometric programming. With numerous examples and exercises together with detailed solutions for several problems, the book also addresses fuzzy multi-objective geometric programming techniques. Geometric programming, which falls into the general class of signomial problems, has applications across disciplines, from engineering to economics, and is extremely useful in applications of a variety of optimization problems. Organized into thirteen chapters, this book is a valuable resource for graduate and advanced undergraduate students and researchers in applied mathematics and engineering.

This volume is a collection of papers presented at the international conference on Nonlinear Mathematics for Uncertainty and Its Applications (NLMUA2011), held at Beijing University of Technology during the week of September 7--9, 2011. The conference brought together leading researchers and practitioners involved with all aspects of nonlinear mathematics for uncertainty and its applications. Over the last fifty years there have been many attempts in extending the theory of classical probability and statistical models to the generalized one which can cope with problems of inference and decision making when the model-related information is scarce, vague, ambiguous, or incomplete. Such attempts include the study of nonadditive measures and their integrals, imprecise probabilities and random sets, and their applications in information sciences, economics, finance, insurance, engineering, and social sciences. The book presents topics including nonadditive measures and nonlinear integrals, Choquet, Sugeno and other types of integrals, possibility theory, Dempster-Shafer theory, random sets, fuzzy random sets and related statistics, set-valued and fuzzy stochastic processes, imprecise probability theory and related statistical models, fuzzy mathematics, nonlinear functional analysis, information theory, mathematical finance and risk managements, decision making under various types of uncertainty, and others.

Fundamentals of Fuzzy Sets covers the basic elements of fuzzy set theory. Its four-part organization provides easy referencing of recent as well as older results in the field. The first part discusses the historical emergence of fuzzy sets, and delves into fuzzy set connectives, and the representation and measurement of membership functions. The second part covers fuzzy relations, including orderings, similarity, and relational equations. The third part, devoted to uncertainty modelling, introduces possibility theory, contrasting and relating it with probabilities, and reviews information measures of specificity and fuzziness. The last part concerns fuzzy sets on the real line - computation with fuzzy intervals, metric topology of fuzzy numbers, and the calculus of fuzzy-valued functions. Each chapter is written by one or more recognized specialists and offers a tutorial introduction to the topics, together with an extensive bibliography.

Fuzzy logic, which is based on the concept of fuzzy set, has enabled scientists to create models under conditions of imprecision, vagueness, or both at once. As a result, it has now found many important applications in almost all sectors of human activity, becoming a complementary feature and supporter of probability theory, which is suitable for modelling situations of uncertainty derived from randomness. Fuzzy mathematics has also significantly developed at the theoretical level, providing important insights into branches of traditional mathematics like algebra, analysis, geometry, topology, and more. With such widespread applications, fuzzy sets and logic are an important area of focus in mathematics. The Handbook of Research on Advances and Applications of Fuzzy Sets and Logic studies recent theoretical advances of fuzzy sets and numbers, fuzzy systems, fuzzy logic and their generalizations, extensions, and more. This book also explores the applications of fuzzy sets and logic applied to science, technology, and everyday life to further provide research on the subject. This book is ideal for mathematicians, physicists, computer specialists, engineers, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students who are looking to learn more about fuzzy sets, fuzzy logic, and their applications.

Since its inception by Professor Lotfi Zadeh about 18 years ago, the theory of fuzzy sets has evolved in many directions, and is finding applications in a wide variety of fields in which the phenomena under study are too complex or too ill-defined to be analyzed by conventional techniques. Thus, by providing a basis for a systematic approach to approximate reasoning and inexact inference, the theory of fuzzy sets may well have a substantial impact on scientific methodology in the years ahead, particularly in the realms of psychology, economics, engineering, law, medicine, decision-analysis, information retrieval, and artificial intelli gence. This volume consists of 24 selected papers invited by the editor, Professor Paul P. Wang. These papers cover the theory and applications of fuzzy sets, almost equal in number. We are very fortunate to have Professor A. Kaufmann to contribute an overview paper of the advances in fuzzy sets. One special feature of this volume is the strong participation of Chinese researchers in this area. The fact is that Chinese mathematicians, scientists and engineers have made important contributions to the theory and applications of fuzzy sets through the past decade. However, not until the visit of Professor A. Kaufmann to China in 1974 and again in 1980, did the Western World become fully aware of the important work of Chinese researchers. Now, Professor Paul Wang has initiated the effort to document these important contributions in this volume to expose them to the western researchers.

This volume contains 45 papers, written by the author alone or in collaboration with the following co-authors: Mumtaz Ali, Said Broumi, Sukanto Bhattacharya, Mamoni Dhar, Irfan Deli, Mincong Deng, Alexandru Gal, Valeri Kroumov, Pabitra Kumar Maji, Maikel Leyva-Vazquez, Feng Liu, Pinaki Majumdar, Munazza Naz, Karina Perez-Teruel, Rıdvan Sahin, A. A. Salama, Muhammad Shabir, Rajshekhar Sunderraman, Luige Vladareanu, Magdalena Vladila, Stefan Vladutescu, Haibin Wang, Hongnian Yu, Yan-Qing Zhang.