INTRODUCTION TO FUZZY SET THEORY

BWA 20603

Fuzzy Numbers

Let R n be the universal set. y is called a fuzzy set in R if y is a set of order pairs.

y ( x, ( x)) x R,
where (x) is the membership function of x in y. The closer (x) is to 1 the
more x belongs to y and the closer it is to 0 means the less it belongs to y .
The RF denoted as the class of all fuzzy set subsets of R (that is (x): R [0,1])
satisfying the following properties :
(i) y must be a normal fuzzy set
(ii) cuts of y ( y or y (x) ) must be a closed interval for every
(0,1]
(iii) the support of y, 0 y or y0 , must be bounded

where RF is called the space of fuzzy numbers (see eg. [Kaleva, 1990]).
Obviously R RF . Here, R RF is understood as R x : x is real number .
The set of all the fuzzy numbers denoted by E n .

1.1 Degree of Membership

Let R be a nonempty set. A fuzzy set Y (x) in R is characterized by its

membership function y ( x) : R [0,1]. Then y (x) is interpreted as the degree of
membership of element x in the fuzzy set Y for each x R.

1.2 r -Level Sets or -Level Sets (or -cut)

Suppose RF is the space of fuzzy numbers see (Kaleva, 1990) with membership
function and r [0,1] . Here R RF is understood RF x : x is real number.
Meanwhile the r-level sets can be defined are as follows :
[ y ]r x R;y ( x) r, 0 r 1;
[ y ]r x R;y ( x) ris compact or strong - cut.
Then it is well known that for each r 0,1, y r is bounded closed interval. Where
denoted as y r [ y (r ), y (r )] .

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It is clear that the following statements are true :

(i) y (r ) is a bounded left continuous non decreasing function over

[0,1],
(ii) y (r ) is a bounded right continuous non increasing function over
[0,1],
(iii) y (r ) y (r ) for all r (0,1], for more details see Buckley and Eslami,
(2001) and Buckley et al. (2002a).

The r-cut is an important concept in procedures for creating the fuzzy environment
as well as assisting defuzzification.

Alpha levels, core, support, normal

z z z z z z

Fuzzy Number (from Jorge dos Santos)

z, z is the support of z
Membership function

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z1 is the modal value

[ z ] z , z is an -level of z,
(0,1]

< ' [z] ' [z]

z z z1 z z

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 A fuzzy number can be given by a
z
1 set of nested intervals, the -levels:
[z]1 [z]0.7 [z]0.5 [z]0.2 [z]0
.7

.5

.2

0
z z0.2
z z
0.5 0.7 z
1 z z
0.7 0.5
z0.2
z

Various type of Membership functions

S-shaped function
Z-shaped function
Triangular Membership Function
Trapezoidal Membership Function
Gaussian Distribution Function
Pi function
Vicinity function

1.3 Triangular Fuzzy Number

Mosleh et al. (2008) stated that the popular fuzzy number is in the form of
triangular fuzzy numbers, A (a, b, c) (see Figure 1.1). The membership function
of the triangular fuzzy numbers are defined as follows :
x a
, a x b,
b a

A ( x) x c
b c , b x c,


0 otherwise.
we will have :
(i) A ( x) 0 if a 0 ,

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 (ii) A ( x) 0 if a 0,
(iii) A ( x ) 0 if c 0,
(iv) A ( x ) 0 if c 0.

A
1

LA (r ) RA (r )

a mb c

Figure 1.1: Triangular Fuzzy

Numbers

1.4 r-Level Sets in Parametric Form

A triangular fuzzy number in section 1.3.2 can be written as parametric form

Allahviranloo et al. (2009). Its parametric form is defined as follows :

LA (r ) a (b a )r and RA (r ) c (c b)r or c (b c)r .

The strong r-level sets, A[r ] x R A ( x) r and the weak r-level sets,
A[r ] x R A ( x) r.

1.5 Pair of Fuzzy Numbers

A fuzzy set A on R is a fuzzy number provided (see Figure 1.1) are as follows :
(i) its membership function is upper semi continuous,
(ii) there exists three intervals [a, b], [b, c], [c, d] such that A is
increasing on [a, b], equal to 1 on [b, c], decreasing on [c, d] and equal to 0
elsewhere.
Suppose A is fuzzy number and r (0, 1) , then the r-level sets of A is defined
by Ar x R : A( x) r. According to Rouhparvar (2007), the r-level sets
representation of A is the pair of functions [ LA (r ) , RA (r )] both from [0, 1] to R
defined by
L A (r ) inf x | x Ar ,
R A (r ) supx | x Ar ,

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for r [0,1] .

1.6 Trapezoidal Fuzzy Numbers

Duraisamy and Usha (2010) have explained that the trapezoidal fuzzy numbers A is
defined by four real numbers a b c d (see Figure 1.2), where the support of
the trapezoidal in the interval [a, d] and its vertices at x b and x c .The
trapezoidal fuzzy numbers is written as A (a, b, c, d ). The membership function of
the trapezoidal fuzzy numbers A (a, b, c, d ) are defined as follows :

xa
, a x b,
ba

A ( x)
1 , b x c,

xd
, c x d,
cd

we will have :
(i) A ( x) 0 if a 0 ,
(ii) A ( x) 0 if b 0,
(iii) A ( x ) 0 if c 0,
(iv) A ( x ) 0 if d 0.

A
R A (r )
L A (r )

a b m c d

Figure 1.2: Trapezoidal Fuzzy Number

If m a d m , a fuzzy number A is said to be a symmetrical trapezoidal fuzzy

number. If c b 0 then obtained a triangular fuzzy number ( a, m, d ). Meanwhile
if b a d c , then it is called a symmetrical triangular fuzzy number.

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1.7 Extension Principles

A principle for fuzzifying a crisp function is called an extension principle. It was

proposed by Zadeh in 1965 to allow the extension of any point operations to
operating involving fuzzy sets. Klir and Yuan (2001) defined the extension
principle as follows:
Let : X n F (Y ) with ( 1 , 2 ,..., n )( y ) sup{min{1 , 2 ,..., n } ( x1 , x2 ,..., xn )
X n and y ( x1 , x2 ,..., xn ) X n }.

In other words, a function : X n F (Y ) , which maps the tuples ( x1 , x2 ,..., xn ) of

X n to the crisp value ( x1 , x2 ,..., xn ) of Y, can be extended in a proper way to a
function : ( F ( X )) n F (Y ) . The extension principle extended the mapping in
such a way that it preserves the image of the elements of X.