Ten years ago, Zadeh has brought into vogue the use of a name. Scientists no is an increasing less than poets strike off words that fit a situation. Today there recognition that for understanding vagueness, a fuzzy approach is required. We are just going through ~ transient period. From discussions of general philosophy to practical methods for system analysis. Unfortunately, much of the existing research is scattered. The practitioner interested in these methods face the challenge of sorting through a vast amount of literature to find a core on which to build. One of the objects of this book was to facilitate communication by bringing toge ther different viewpoints and coloring them from a common viewpoint. Since the romanian version appeared, at the very beginning of 1974, there has been a rapid growth in the literature of fuzzy modelling. A minor revision would have left the book quite out-of-date. The opportunity has been taken to correct, clarify, and update. Inexactness is implicit in human behaviour and erare humanum est. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the help we have received in preparing this version. The opportunity to see an english edition was a powerful stimulus, and we are grateful to Salomon Klaczko for making this possible. Another debt is to all fuzzy authors we have quoted. Their fascinating papers kindled our interest in the subject.

This book consists of selected papers written by the founder of fuzzy set theory, Lotfi A Zadeh. Since Zadeh is not only the founder of this field, but has also been the principal contributor to its development over the last 30 years, the papers contain virtually all the major ideas in fuzzy set theory, fuzzy logic, and fuzzy systems in their historical context. Many of the ideas presented in the papers are still open to further development. The book is thus an important resource for anyone interested in the areas of fuzzy set theory, fuzzy logic, and fuzzy systems, as well as their applications. Moreover, the book is also intended to play a useful role in higher education, as a rich source of supplementary reading in relevant courses and seminars.The book contains a bibliography of all papers published by Zadeh in the period 1949-1995. It also contains an introduction that traces the development of Zadeh's ideas pertaining to fuzzy sets, fuzzy logic, and fuzzy systems via his papers. The ideas range from his 1965 seminal idea of the concept of a fuzzy set to ideas reflecting his current interest in computing with words — a computing in which linguistic expressions are used in place of numbers.Places in the papers, where each idea is presented can easily be found by the reader via the Subject Index.

This book provides concise yet thorough coverage of the fundamentals and technology of fuzzy sets. Readers will find a lucid and systematic introduction to the essential concepts of fuzzy set-based information granules, their processing and detailed algorithms. Timely topics and recent advances in fuzzy modeling and its principles, neurocomputing, fuzzy set estimation, granulation–degranulation, and fuzzy sets of higher type and order are discussed. In turn, a wealth of examples, case studies, problems and motivating arguments, spread throughout the text and linked with various areas of artificial intelligence, will help readers acquire a solid working knowledge. Given the book’s well-balanced combination of the theory and applied facets of fuzzy sets, it will appeal to a broad readership in both academe and industry. It is also ideally suited as a textbook for graduate and undergraduate students in science, engineering, and operations research.

A self-contained treatment of fuzzy systems engineering, offering conceptual fundamentals, design methodologies, development guidelines, and carefully selected illustrative material Forty years have passed since the birth of fuzzy sets, in which time a wealth of theoretical developments, conceptual pursuits, algorithmic environments, and other applications have emerged. Now, this reader-friendly book presents an up-to-date approach to fuzzy systems engineering, covering concepts, design methodologies, and algorithms coupled with interpretation, analysis, and underlying engineering knowledge. The result is a holistic view of fuzzy sets as a fundamental component of computational intelligence and human-centric systems. Throughout the book, the authors emphasize the direct applicability and limitations of the concepts being discussed, and historical and bibliographical notes are included in each chapter to help readers view the developments of fuzzy sets from a broader perspective. A radical departure from current books on the subject, Fuzzy Systems Engineering presents fuzzy sets as an enabling technology whose impact, contributions, and methodology stretch far beyond any specific discipline, making it applicable to researchers and practitioners in engineering, computer science, business, medicine, bioinformatics, and computational biology. Additionally, three appendices and classroom-ready electronic resources make it an ideal textbook for advanced undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in engineering and science.

Since the late 1980s, a large number of very user-friendly tools for fuzzy control, fuzzy expert systems, and fuzzy data analysis have emerged. This has changed the character of this area and started the area of `fuzzy technology'. The next large step in the development occurred in 1992 when almost independently in Europe, Japan and the USA, the three areas of fuzzy technology, artificial neural nets and genetic algorithms joined forces under the title of `computational intelligence' or `soft computing'. The synergies which were possible between these three areas have been exploited very successfully. Practical Applications of Fuzzy Sets focuses on model and real applications of fuzzy sets, and is structured into four major parts: engineering and natural sciences; medicine; management; and behavioral, cognitive and social sciences. This book will be useful for practitioners of fuzzy technology, scientists and students who are looking for applications of their models and methods, for topics of their theses, and even for venture capitalists who look for attractive possibilities for investments.

Since its inception 20 years ago the theory of fuzzy sets has advanced in a variety of ways and in many disciplines. Applications of this theory can be found in artificial intelligence, computer science, control engineering, decision theory, expert systems, logic, management science, operations research, pattern recognition, robotics and others. Theoretical advances, too, have been made in many directions, and a gap has arisen between advanced theoretical topics and applications, which often use the theory at a rather elementary level. The primary goal of this book is to close this gap - to provide a textbook for courses in fuzzy set theory and a book that can be used as an introduction. This revised book updates the research agenda, with the chapters of possibility theory, fuzzy logic and approximate reasoning, expert systems and control, decision making and fuzzy set models in operations research being restructured and rewritten. Exercises have been added to almost all chapters and a teacher's manual is available upon request.

The present monograph intends to establish a solid link among three fields: fuzzy set theory, information retrieval, and cluster analysis. Fuzzy set theory supplies new concepts and methods for the other two fields, and provides a common frame work within which they can be reorganized. Four principal groups of readers are assumed: researchers or students who are interested in (a) application of fuzzy sets, (b) theory of information retrieval or bibliographic databases, (c) hierarchical clustering, and (d) application of methods in systems science. Readers in group (a) may notice that the fuzzy set theory used here is very simple, since only finite sets are dealt with. This simplification enables the max min algebra to deal with fuzzy relations and matrices as equivalent entities. Fuzzy graphs are also used for describing theoretical properties of fuzzy relations. This assumption of finite sets is sufficient for applying fuzzy sets to information retrieval and cluster analysis. This means that little theory, beyond the basic theory of fuzzy sets, is required. Although readers in group (b) with little background in the theory of fuzzy sets may have difficulty with a few sections, they will also find enough in this monograph to support an intuitive grasp of this new concept of fuzzy information retrieval. Chapter 4 provides fuzzy retrieval without the use of mathematical symbols. Also, fuzzy graphs will serve as an aid to the intuitive understanding of fuzzy relations.