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Fuzzy Numbers and Their Applications

Article  in  Fuzzy Sets and Systems · December 2014

DOI: 10.1016/j.fss.2014.08.009

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Przemyslaw Grzegorzewski Luciano Stefanini

Systems Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Faculty of Mathe… Università degli Studi di Urbino "Carlo Bo"
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 Elsevier Editorial System(tm) for Fuzzy Sets and Systems
Manuscript Draft

Manuscript Number:

Title: Foreword to the Special Issue of Fuzzy Sets and Systems on "Fuzzy Numbers and Their
Applications"

Article Type: Editorial (EDI)

Corresponding Author: The Guest Editors FNATA,

Corresponding Author's Institution: Systems Research Institute

First Author: Guest Editors FNATA

Order of Authors: Guest Editors FNATA

Manuscript
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1
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Foreword
3
4 to the Special Issue of Fuzzy Sets and Systems on
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6 “Fuzzy Numbers and Their Applications”
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1 2
9 Przemyslaw Grzegorzewski and Luciano Stefanini
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12 A vast number of scientific papers and many practical applications have shown that fuzzy set theory
13 allows for modeling and handling imprecise information in an effective way. As a special type of fuzzy
14 sets, fuzzy numbers play an especially important role in this regard, which is hardly surprising in light
15 of the predominance of a numerical representation of information.
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17 Many researchers have focused their work on different theoretical aspects of fuzzy numbers and
18 fuzzy-valued functions, like approximations and representations of fuzzy numbers, construction of
19 operators for exact and approximate fuzzy arithmetic, spaces of fuzzy numbers, fuzzy differentiation
20 and integration with relevant applications of fuzzy calculus, etc.
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22 The aim of this special issue is to collect some new results in theory of fuzzy numbers, to provide a
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snapshot of the state-of-the-art and to strengthen the dialogue between scientists. We have selected
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contributions focused both on theoretical aspects and devoted to practical problems with handling
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fuzzy numbers.
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Fuzzy number approximation is one of the most intensively developed research directions in the field.
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This special issue includes three contributions devoted to this topic. Adrian Ban and Lucian Coroianu
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consider general conditions for existence, uniqueness and continuity of trapezoidal approximations of
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fuzzy numbers under requirements of preservation of fixed parameters. Chi-Tsuen Yeh and Han-Min
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32 Chu use LR-type fuzzy numbers to approximate fuzzy numbers; their approach generalizes all recent
33 approximations without constraints, based on the Euclidean distance. Finally, Lucian Coroianu et al.
34 suggest how to use the so-called max-product Bernstein operators for approximation of fuzzy numbers
35 with continuous membership functions; in particular, the proposed operators preserve the quasi-
36 concavity property.
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38 Another topic that has recently been explored in this area is "gradual numbers". This issue contains
39 two contributions to this topic. Reda Boukezoula et al. combine the concepts of gradual numbers and
40 the Kaucher arithmetic on extended intervals to define extended gradual interval (EGI) arithmetic.
41 They also discuss properties of EGI-based arithmetic and applications, including the fuzzy weighted
42 average (FWA) and gradual weighted average (GWA). In the second paper, Jesus Chamorro-Martinez
43 et al. elaborate on different representations of the cardinality of a fuzzy set; they show that gradual
44 fuzzy numbers applied for calculating the cardinality of fuzzy sets provide a precise representation of
45 that cardinality and also indicate some applications in image processing.
46
47 Next, we present three papers exploring and developing theoretical aspects of the nature of fuzzy
48 numbers and arithmetic operations. Michal Holcapek and Martin Stepnicka propose a new framework
49 for arithmetic of extensional fuzzy numbers that more or less preserves all the important (algebraic)
50 properties of the arithmetic of real numbers. Their investigation leads to novel algebraic structures –
51 MI-algebras (MI-monoids, MI-groups, MI-fields). The proposed approach is applied to problems in
52 image processing, such as color dominance in images. Jiri Kupka and Jose S. Canovas discuss some
53 aspects and properties of the topological entropy on the space of fuzzy numbers. In particular, they
54 show the interesting property that, in the space of fuzzy numbers, the topological entropy of an
55 interval-valued map coincides with its fuzzy extension (in the sense of Zadeh’s extension principle). Y.
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59 Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Newelska 6, 01-447 Warsaw, Poland, Phone:
60 +48223810207, Fax: +48223810105, E-Mail address: pgrzeg@ibspan.waw.pl
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61 University of Urbino ”Carlo Bo”, Department of Economics, Society, Politics (DESP), 61029 Urbino, Italy,
62 E-Mail address: luciano.stefanini@uniurb.it
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 Chalco-Cano et al. propose a variant of constraint interval arithmetic that has several desirable
properties not shared in general by interval operations previously defined in the literature.
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The final four papers are devoted to applications and address practical and computational aspects of
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fuzzy arithmetic. Nizami Gasilov et al. investigate linear differential equations with boundary values
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expressed by fuzzy numbers. In particular, the relationship between unicity in the crisp context and
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5 unicity in the fuzzy context are investigated. Luciano Stefanini and Barnabas Bede present additional
6 results on generalized fuzzy differentiability of fuzzy-valued functions using the LU-parametric
7 representation; in particular, the paper shows necessary and sufficient conditions for the different
8 types of generalized fuzzy differentiability. Antonio Roldan et al. present a characterization of the
9 image of a fuzzy number in terms of the extremes of its level sets and discuss some applications of
10 the image of a fuzzy number in regression and a specificity-type ordering. The last paper by Maria
11 Letizia Guerra et al. investigates the investment appraisal problem in the interval and fuzzy contexts;
12 the paper extends a new concept of Average Internal Rate of Return (AIRR) with interval and fuzzy
13 uncertainty as a substitute of the standard Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and, using standard
14 (extension principle-based) and extended (constrained and generalized) fuzzy arithmetic operations,
15 discuss both theoretical and practical aspects of fuzzy AIRR.
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17 The editors of this special issue are grateful to all contributing authors and to the editors-in-chief of
18 Fuzzy Sets and Systems for the opportunity to prepare and publish this volume. Moreover, they
19 would like to express their gratitude to all reviewers who helped to guarantee the high quality of the
20 papers that have eventually been included.
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23 Przemyslaw Grzegorzewski and Luciano Stefanini (Guest Editors)
24 Warsaw and Urbino, July 2014
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 Contents
1
2
3 Foreword: Fuzzy Numbers and Fuzzy Arithmetic
4 by Przemyslaw Grzegorzewski, Luciano Stefanini (Guest Editors)
5
6
7
Approximation of fuzzy numbers
8
9 Existence, uniqueness and continuity of trapezoidal approximations of fuzzy numbers under a
10 general condition
11 by Adrian I. Ban, Lucian Coroianu
12
13
14 Approximations by LR-type fuzzy numbers
15 by Chi-Tsuen Yeh, Han-Min Chu
16
17
18
Approximation of fuzzy numbers by max-product Bernstein operators
19 by Lucian Coroianu, Sorin G. Gal, Barnabás Bede
20
21 Gradual numbers
22
23
24 Extended gradual interval (EGI) arithmetic and its application to gradual weighted averages
25 by Reda Boukezzoula, Sylvie Galichet, Laurent Foulloy, Moheb Elmasry
26
27 A discussion on fuzzy cardinality and quantification. Some applications in image processing
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by J. Chamorro-Martínez, D. Sánchez, J.M. Soto-Hidalgo, P.M. Martínez-Jiménez
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31 Theoretical aspects
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33 MI-algebras: A new framework for arithmetics of (extensional) fuzzy numbers
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by Michal Holcapek, Martin Štepnicka
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37 On the topological entropy on the space of fuzzy numbers
38 by Jose S. Cánovas, Jirí Kupka
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41 Single level constraint interval arithmetic
42 by Yurilev Chalco-Cano, Weldon A. Lodwick, Barnabás Bede
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44 Applications
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47 Solution of linear differential equations with fuzzy boundary values
48 by Nizami Gasilov, Sahin Emrah Amrahov, Afet Golayoglu Fatullayev
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50 Generalized fuzzy differentiability with LU-parametric representation
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52 by Luciano Stefanini, Barnabás Bede
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54 Some applications of the study of the image of a fuzzy number: Countable fuzzy numbers,
55 operations, regression and a specificity-type ordering
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by A. Roldán, J. Martínez-Moreno, C. Roldán
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59 Interval and fuzzy Average Internal Rate of Return for investment appraisal
60 by Maria Letizia Guerra, Carlo Alberto Magni, Luciano Stefanini
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