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Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing
Laécio Carvalho de Barros

Rodney Carlos Bassanezi
Weldon Alexander Lodwick
A First Course
in Fuzzy Logic,
Fuzzy Dynamical
Systems, and
Biomathematics
Theory and Applications
Volume 347
Series editor
Janusz Kacprzyk, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
e-mail: kacprzyk@ibspan.waw.pl
About this Series
The series “Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing” contains publications on

various topics in the area of soft computing, which include fuzzy sets, rough sets,
neural networks, evolutionary computation, probabilistic and evidential reasoning,
multi-valued logic, and related fields. The publications within “Studies in
Fuzziness and Soft Computing” are primarily monographs and edited volumes.
They cover significant recent developments in the field, both of a foundational and
applicable character. An important feature of the series is its short publication time
and world-wide distribution. This permits a rapid and broad dissemination of
research results.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/2941

A First Course in Fuzzy

Logic, Fuzzy Dynamical
Systems, and
Biomathematics
Theory and Applications
123
Laécio Carvalho de Barros Weldon Alexander Lodwick
Departamento de Matemática Aplicada Department of Mathematical and Statistical
Universidade Estadual de Campinas Sciences
São Paulo University of Colorado Denver
Brazil Denver, CO
USA
Centro de Matemática e Computação
Universidade Federal do ABC
Santo André, São Paulo
Brazil
ISSN 1434-9922 ISSN 1860-0808 (electronic)

ISBN 978-3-662-53322-2 ISBN 978-3-662-53324-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-53324-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016948236
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from
the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or
for any errors or omissions that may have been made.
Printed on acid-free paper
This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature

The registered company is Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany
The registered company address is: Heidelberger Platz 3, 14197 Berlin, Germany
The authors wish to thank all their students
who over the years graced our presence and
with whom we share a space in time devoted
to our mutual love of mathematics and the
pursuit of truth. In particular, we would like
to thank Estevão Esmi Laurenao for the
assistance in reading, editing early versions,
and with the layout of the text and figures.
Preface
This book is the result of courses we have given for more than a decade to upper
level undergraduate students and to graduate students majoring in mathematics,
applied mathematics, statistics, and engineering. In this book the reader will
encounter the basic concepts that span the initial notions of fuzzy sets to more
advanced notions of fuzzy differential equation and dynamical systems. We follow,
in our ordering of topics, a pedagogical unfolding beginning with classical theory
such as set theory and probability in such a way that these serve as an opening into
the fuzzy case. Moreover, the classical differential and integral calculus is the
beginning step from which fuzzy differential and integral analysis are developed.
There are various derivatives and integrals that exist and applied in the context of
fuzzy functions. These are clearly delineated and interpreted in our presentation of
fuzzy integral and differential equations.
Each of the major topics is accompanied with examples, worked exercises and
exercises to be completed. Many applications of our concept to real problems are
found throughout the book.
Even though this book may be, and has been, used as a textbook for various
courses, in it are sufficient ideas for beginning the research projects in fuzzy
mathematics. It is the hope of the authors that our joy, passion, and respect for all
who seriously the study of fuzzy mathematics, modeling, and applications, emerges
through the written page.

vii
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to acknowledge and thank the partial support received from
CNPq.
ix
Contents
1 Fuzzy Sets Theory and Uncertainty in Mathematical Modeling . . . 1

1.1 Uncertainty in Modeling and Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Fuzzy Subset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3 Operations with Fuzzy Subsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.4 Concept of α-Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2 The Extension Principle of Zadeh and Fuzzy Numbers . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.1 Zadeh’s Extension Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.2 Fuzzy Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.2.1 Arithmetic Operations with Fuzzy Numbers . . . . . . . . . 31
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3 Fuzzy Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... 43
3.1 Fuzzy Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... 43
3.1.1 Forms of Representation and Properties
of the Binary Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... 46
3.2 Composition Between Binary Fuzzy Relations . . . . . ......... 48
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... 51
4 Notions of Fuzzy Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.1 Basic Connectives of Classical Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.2 Basic Connectives of Fuzzy Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.2.1 Operations T-Norm and T-Conorm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
4.3 Approximate Reasoning and Linguistic Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.4 Modus Ponens and Generalized Modus Ponens . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
4.5 Linguistic Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.6 Independence and Non-interactivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.6.1 Probabilistic Independence and Non-interactivity . . . . . 74
4.6.2 Possibilistic Independence and Non-interactivity . . . . . . 75
4.6.3 The Conditional Distributions and Modus Ponens . . . . . 76
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
xi
xii Contents
5 Fuzzy Rule-Based Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

5.1 Fuzzy Rule Bases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
5.2 Fuzzy Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
5.2.1 Fuzzification Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
5.2.2 Base-Rule Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
5.2.3 Fuzzy Inference Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
5.2.4 Defuzzification Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
5.3 Mamdani Inference Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
5.4 Defuzzification Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5.4.1 Centroid or Center of Mass or Center
of Gravity (G(B)). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
5.4.2 Center of Maximum (C(B)) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.4.3 Mean of Maximum (M(B)) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
5.5 Takagi–Sugeno–Kang Inference Method (TSK) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
5.6 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
5.6.1 Model 1 – Forecasting the Salinity of an Estuary
in Cananeia and Ilha Comprida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
5.6.2 Model 2 – Rate of Seropositive Transfer (HIV þ ) . . . . . 101
5.6.3 Model 3 – Pharmacological Decay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
6 Fuzzy Relational Equations and Universal Approximation . . . .... 113
6.1 Generalized Compositions of Fuzzy Relations . . . . . . . . . . .... 114
6.2 Fuzzy Relational Equations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 116
6.2.1 Fuzzy Relational Equations with the max–min
Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 116
6.2.2 Fuzzy Relational Equations with the sup–t
Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
6.2.3 Mathematical Modelling: Medical Diagnosis . . . . . . . . . 120
6.3 Fuzzy Relational Equation and Bayesian Inference . . . . . . . . . . . 123
6.3.1 Possibility Distribution and Bayesian Inference . . . . . . . 125
6.3.2 Possibilistic Rule of Bayes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
6.4 Universal Approximation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6.4.1 Approximating Capability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
6.5 Applications of Fuzzy Controllers in Dynamic Systems . . . . . . . 131
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
7 Measure, Integrals and Fuzzy Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
7.1 Classic Measure and Fuzzy Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
7.1.1 Probability Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
7.2 Fuzzy Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
7.3 Possibility Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
7.4 Probability/Possibility Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Contents xiii
7.5 Fuzzy Integrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

7.5.1 Lebesgue Integral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
7.5.2 Choquet Integral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
7.5.3 Sugeno Integral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
7.6 Fuzzy Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
7.6.1 Probability of Fuzzy Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
7.6.2 Independence Between Fuzzy Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
7.6.3 Random Linguistic Variable and Fuzzy
Random Variable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... 166
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ......... 172
8 Fuzzy Dynamical Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
8.1 Continuous Fuzzy Dynamical Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
8.1.1 Integration and Differentiation of Fuzzy Functions . . . . 177
8.1.2 Fuzzy Initial Value Problem (FIVP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
8.1.3 Generalized Fuzzy Initial Value Problem (GFIVP) . . . . 184
8.2 Discrete Fuzzy Dynamic System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
8.2.1 Discrete Fuzzy Malthusian Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
8.2.2 Discrete Fuzzy Logistic Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
9 Modeling in Biomathematics: Demographic Fuzziness . . . . . . . .... 205
9.1 Demographic Fuzziness: Discrete Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 207
9.1.1 Fuzzy Rules with Opposite Semantics . . . . . . . . . . .... 208
9.1.2 Equilibrium and Stability of One-Dimensional
Discrete p-Fuzzy Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
9.1.3 Discrete p-Fuzzy Predator-Prey Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
9.2 Demographic Fuzziness: Continuous Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
9.2.1 Characteristics of a Continuous p-Fuzzy Systems . . . . . 219
9.2.2 Numerical Methods for the Solution of the
Continuous p-Fuzzy System IVP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 220
9.2.3 A Study of Montroll’s p-Fuzzy Model . . . . . . . . . .... 223
9.3 Bi-Dimensional Models: Predator-Prey and p-Fuzzy
Lotka–Volterra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 227
9.3.1 Predator-Prey p-Fuzzy Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 228
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 235
10 Biomathematical Modeling in a Fuzzy Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
10.1 Life Expectancy and Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
10.1.1 The Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
10.1.2 Statistical Expectation: E½nðtÞ . h. . . i. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
nðtÞ
10.1.3 Fuzzy Expectation Value: FEV nð0Þ ............... 241
xiv Contents
10.1.4 Application: Life Expectancy of a Group

of Metal Workers in Recife, Pernambuco - Brazil . .... 242
10.1.5 Comparisons of the Statistical Expected Value
and the Fuzzy Expected Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 245
10.2 The SI Epidemiological Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 247
10.2.1 The Fuzzy SI Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 248
10.2.2 Expected Value of the Number of Infected
Individuals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 250
10.2.3 Statistical Expected Values of the Number
in Infected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 253
10.2.4 IðFEV½V; tÞ Versus FEV½IðV; tÞ . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 256
10.2.5 Control of Epidemics and the Basic
Reproductive Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 257
10.3 A Fuzzy Model of the Transference from Asymptomatic
to Symptomatic in HIV þ Patients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 258
10.3.1 The Classical Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 259
10.3.2 The Fuzzy Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 260
10.3.3 The Fuzzy Expectation of the Asymptomatic
Individuals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 261
10.4 Population Dynamics and Migration of Blow Flies . . . . . . .... 264
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 268
11 End Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
11.1 Subtration of Interactive Fuzzy Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
11.1.1 Difference Between Fuzzy Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
11.2 Prey-Predator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
11.2.1 Prey-Predator with the Minimum t-Norm . . . . . . . . . . . 278
11.2.2 Prey-Predator with the Hamacher t-Norm . . . . . . . . . . . 278
11.3 Epidemiological Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
11.3.1 SI Model with Minimum t-Norm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
11.3.2 SI Model with Hamacher t-Norm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
11.4 Takagi–Sugeno Method to Study the Risk of Dengue . . . . . . . . 284
11.4.1 Takagi–Sugeno Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
11.4.2 Dengue Risk Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
11.4.3 Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
11.4.4 Final Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
11.5 The SI-model with Completely Correlated
Initial Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 290
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 293
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
About the Authors
Laécio Carvalho de Barros is Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Institute

of Mathematics, Statistics and Computational Sciences, the University of
Campinas, and holds a Ph.D. degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of
Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, in 1997. He is the co-author of the book Fuzzy Logic
in Action: Applications in Epidemiology and Beyond, Studies in Fuzziness and Soft
Computing Vol. 232, 2008, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, and of the book
Fuzzy Differential Equations in Various Approaches, SpringerBriefs in
Mathematics, Number 1, 2015, Springer International Publishing. His current
research interests include modeling of biological phenomena, fuzzy sets theory and
fuzzy dynamical systems. Moreover, he has taught fuzzy mathematical modeling
and fuzzy set theory classes for over 15 years to both undergraduate and graduate
students.
Rodney Carlos Bassanezi is Professor Emeritus of Applied Mathematics at the
Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computational Sciences at the University of
Campinas starting his university teaching career there in 1969. He received a Ph.D.
degree in Mathematics from the University of Campinas in 1977. He held post-
doctoral and research positions at the Libera Universitad di Trento, Italy 1981,
1985, 1990, and 1993. His research activities cover mathematical analysis (minimal
surfaces), biomathematics, and fuzzy dynamical systems. He has published some
books in Portuguese, notably one textbook on differential equations (1988), one
textbook on mathematical modeling (2002), as well as an introduction to calculus
and applications (2015). He has been the president of the Sociedade
Latino-Americano de Biomatemática (1999–2001) and the coordinator of the
graduate program in mathematics at the Federal University ABC in São Paulo. He
has directed 55 Masters and 21 Ph.D. theses and his students have been teaching
throughout Latin American.
xv
xvi About the Authors
Weldon Alexander Lodwick is Professor of Mathematics at the University of

Colorado Denver. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Mathematics (1980) from Oregon
State University, He is the co-editor of the book Fuzzy Optimization: Recent
Developments and Applications, Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing Vol.
254, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2010, and the author of the monograph
Interval and Fuzzy Analysis: A Unified Approach in Advances in Imaging and
Electronic Physics, Vol. 148, pp. 76–192, Elsevier, 2007. His current research
interests include interval analysis, distance geometry, as well as flexible and gen-
eralized uncertainty optimization. Over the last 30 years he has taught applied
mathematical modeling classes to undergraduate and graduate students on topics
such as radiation therapy of tumor, fuzzy and possibilistic optimization modeling,
molecular distance geometry problems, and neural networks applied to control
problems.
Chapter 1
Fuzzy Sets Theory and Uncertainty
in Mathematical Modeling
Man is the measure of all things: of things which are, that they
are, and of things which are not, that they are not.
(Protagoras – 5th Century BCE)
Abstract This chapter presents a brief discussion about uncertainty based on philo-
sophical principles, mainly from the point of view of the pre-Socratic philosophers.
Next, the notions of fuzzy sets and operations on fuzzy sets are presented. Lastly,
the concepts of alpha-level and the statement of the well-known Negoita-Ralescu
Representation Theorem, the representation of a fuzzy set by its alpha-levels, are
discussed.
1.1 Uncertainty in Modeling and Analysis
The fundamental entity of analysis for this book is set, a collection of objects. A
second fundamental entity for this book is variable. The variable represents what
one wishes to investigate by a mathematical modeling process that aims to quantify
it. In this context, the variable is a symbolic receptacle of what one wishes to know.
The quantification process involves a set of values which is ascribed a-priori. Thus,
when one talks about a variable being fuzzy, a real-number, a random number, and
so on, one is ascribing to the variable its attribution.
A set also has an existence or context. That is, when one is in the process of
creating a mathematical model, one ascribes to sets attributions associated with the
model or problem at hand. One speaks of a set being a classical set, a fuzzy set, a set
of distributions, a random sets, and so on. Given that models of existent problems or
conditions are far from ideal deterministic mathematical entities, we are interested
in dealing directly with associated inexactitudes and so ascribe to our fundamental
objects of modeling and analysis properties of determinism (exactness) and non-
determinism (inexactness).
This book is about processes in which uncertainty both in the input or data side
and in the relational structure is inherent to the problem at hand. Social and biological
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017 1
L.C. de Barros et al., A First Course in Fuzzy Logic, Fuzzy
Dynamical Systems, and Biomathematics, Studies in Fuzziness
and Soft Computing 347, DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-53324-6_1
2 1 Fuzzy Sets Theory and Uncertainty in Mathematical Modeling
the modeling are characterized by such uncertainties. The mathematical theory on

which we focus to enable modeling with uncertainty occurring in biological and
social systems is fuzzy set theory first developed by L. Zadeh [1].
Uncertainty has long been a concern of researchers and philosophers alike,
throughout the ages as it is to us in this present book. The pursuit of the truth,
of what is, of what exists, which is one aspect of uncertainty if we characterize truth
or existence certainty, has been debated since the dawn of thinking. In ancient Greece
individuals and schools explicitly asked the question: “What exists? Is everything in
transformation or is there permanence?” These are two dimensions of thought and
can be considered completely separate issues and even contradictory issues.
The pre-Socratic philosophers tried to make statements summarizing their
thoughts about the Universe in an attempt to explain what is existent in the uni-
verse. In the words of Heraclitus of Ephesus (6th to 5th Century BCE), “panta hei”,
which means “everything flows, everything changes”. By way of illustration, con-
sider a situation in which a river is never the same, one cannot bathe in the same river
twice. Cratylus, his disciple, took Heraclitus’ thoughts to the extreme by saying that
we cannot bathe in the river even once, because if we assign an identity to things or
give them names, we are also giving stability to these things which, in his view, are
undergoing constant change.
The Eleatic school, in contrast to Heraclitus, questions the existence of motion
or change itself. According to Parmenides of Elea (6th to 5th Century BCE): “the
only thing that exists is the being - which is the same as thinking”. Zeno, his main
follower, denies that there is motion as this was understood at the time by giving his
famous paradox of Achilles and the turtle [2].
The Sophists interpret what Parmenides said as the impossibility of false rhetoric.
According to Protagoras (5th Century BCE): “Man is the measure of all things”.
There is no absolute truth or falsehood. In the Sophists’ view, humankind must seek
solutions in the practical. The criterion of true or false is related to the theoretical
and must therefore be replaced by (more practical) patterns related to the concepts
of better or worse. Rhetoric is the way to find such patterns.
Most of the pre-Socratic philosophers with the exception of Heraclitus, believed
there was something eternal and unchanging behind the coming-to-be (that which is
in the process of being, of becoming), that was the eternal source, the foundation of
all beings. According to Thales, it was water; in the opinion of Anaximenes, the air;
Pythagoras thought it was numbers; and, Democritus believed that this source lay
in the atoms and in the void. This eternal something which was unchangeable and
which held all things was called by the Greeks arche.
Certainty and uncertainty were widely discussed by Greek philosophers. The
Sophists (a term derived from sophistes, sages) were known to teach the art of rhetoric.
Protagoras, the most important Sophist along with Górgias, taught students how to
turn weaknesses of argument into strengths. Rhetoric, for the Sophists, is a posture
or attitude with respect to knowledge that has a total skepticism in relation to any
kind of absolute knowledge. This, no matter how things are, is because everything
is relative and also depends on who gives judgement about them. Górgias said that
rhetoric surpasses all other arts, being the best because it makes all things submit
1.1 Uncertainty in Modeling and Analysis 3
to spontaneity rather than to violence. As is well known, Socrates confronted the

Sophists of his day with the question: “What is?” That is, if everything is relative,
what exists?
Plato, a disciple of Socrates, initially shared the ideas of Heraclitus that every-
thing is changing, the flow of coming-to-be, everything was in process. However, if
everything was in motion then knowledge would not be possible. To avoid falling
back into skepticism, Plato thought of a “world of ideas”. Around this world, there
would be changes, and things would be eternal beyond the space-time dimension.
The so-called “sensory world”, which is the world as perceived by the five senses,
would then come into being. It would be true that the “world of ideas” would be
behind the coming-to-be of this “sensory world”. For Plato the most important thing
was not the final concept, but the path taken to reach it. The “world of ideas” is not
accessible by the senses but rather just by intuition, while intellectual dialectics is the
movement of asceticism in pursuit of the truth. Therefore, Plato promotes a synthesis
between Heraclitus and Parmenides.
On the other hand, for Aristotle, the world of ideas and essences is not contained
in things themselves. Universal knowledge is linked to its underlying logic (the
Logos, the same reason, the principle of order and study of the consequences) and
also the syllogism, which is the formal mechanism for deduction. Based on certain
general assumptions, knowledge must strictly follow an order using the concept
of the demonstrative syllogism. In short, and perhaps naively, we think that the
most important difference between Aristotle and the Sophists is the fact that, for
Aristotle, there is an eternal, an immutable, independent of human beings, while
the Sophists consider that there is no eternal and absolute truth, but rather just the
knowledge obtained from our senses. For Plato and Aristotle, respectively, dialectics
and syllogisms are to be used in the quest for the truth. The Sophists consider that
rhetoric, the art of persuasion, is convincing in relation to the search for the truth,
because truth does not exist as an absolute.
Understanding that subjectivity, imprecision, uncertainty, are inherent to certain
terms of language, Górgias denied the existence of absolute truth: even if absolute
truth existed, it would be incomprehensible to man, even if it were comprehensible to
one man, it would not be communicable to others. In order to stimulate our thought
about this aspect of the uncertainty of language, we will try to reach a compromise
between the positions of the Sophists, on the one hand, and Plato and Aristotle, on
the other, by means of a simple example.
It is common practice to propose a meeting with another person by saying some-
thing like “Let’s meet at four o’clock”. Well, the abstract concept of “four o’clock”,
indicating a measurement of time, shows a need to establish communication (in the
abstract) and also enable the holding of the event, our meeting. If this were not
the case, how should we then communicate our meeting? - A point for Plato. On
the other hand, if we take this at face value, the meeting would never take place as
our respective clocks would never reach four o’clock simultaneously, even if they
had been synchronized, as we could not get to the point marked in hours, minutes,
seconds, and millionths of seconds. A point for Górgias. Admitting that we often
carry out our commitments at the appointed time and place, it looks like we equally
need abstract truths and practical standards of a sensible world.
We articulated the thoughts above in order to point out the difficulty of talking
about certainty or uncertainty and of fuzzy or determinism. If we look in a dictionary
for terms synonymous with uncertainty, we find, for example: subjectivity, inaccu-
racy, randomness, doubt, ambiguity, and unpredictably, among others. Historically,
researchers, from what we have noticed, have, in their quantitative treatment, made
distinctions between the different types of uncertainty. The uncertainty arising from
the randomness of events has been well documented, and now occupies a prominent
position in the gallery of mathematics, in probability theory. Quantum physics has
used stochastic theories, and a series of formulae now try to explain the “relation-
ships of uncertainty”. One of the most widely known of these is the Uncertainty
Principle devised by the physicist W. Heisenberg (1927), which relates the position
and the velocity (momentum) of a particle. In a nutshell, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty
Principle says that one cannot know simultaneous for certain the exact position and
speed (momentum) of a subatomic particle. One can know one or the other, but not
both.
Unlike randomness, some variables used in our daily lives, and which are perfectly
understood when transmitted linguistically between partners, have always remained
outside the scope of traditional mathematical treatment. This is the case of some lin-
guistic variables that have arisen from the need to distinguish between qualifications
through a grading system. To describe certain phenomena within the sensible world,
we have used degrees that represent qualities or partial truths, or “better standards” to
use Sophist language. This is the case, for example, with such concepts as tall, heavy
smoker, or infections. This kind ambiguity in language which is a type of uncertainty
in terms of its precise meaning since these terms are by their very nature, imprecise,
is from a linguistic point of view, a flexibility regarding what elements belong to
the category/set (tall, heavy smoker). Moreover, the main contribution that fuzzy
logic made and is making, is to the mathematical analysis of fuzzy sets, these vague,
flexible, open concepts. Fuzzy logic gives precision to imprecise (linguistic) terms
so that mathematical analysis of these flexible categories is meaningful. In language
usage, we could refer to the sets of tall people, smokers or infections. These are
typical examples of “sets” whose boundaries can be considered transitional, flexible,
vague, since they are defined through subjective or flexible properties or attributes.
Let’s consider the example of tall people. To make a formal mathematical repre-
sentation of this set, we could approach it in at least two different ways. The first is the
classical approach, establishing a height above which a person could be considered
tall. In this case, the set is well-defined. The second and less conventional approach
to this issue would be that of considering all people as being tall with greater or less
extent, that is, there are people who are more or less tall or not tall at all. This means
that the less tall the individual, the lower the degree of relevance to this class. We
can therefore say that all people belong to the set of tall people, with greater or less
extent. This latter approach is what we intend to discuss in our book. It was from
such notions, where the defining characteristics or properties of the set is flexible,
transitional, open, that fuzzy theory appeared. Fuzzy set theory has grown consider-
1.1 Uncertainty in Modeling and Analysis 5
ably since it was introduced in 1965, both theoretically and in diverse applications
especially in the field of technology - microchips.
The word “fuzzy” is of English origin and means (see Concise Oxford English
Dictionary, 11th edition) indistinct or vague. Other meanings include blurred, hav-
ing the nature or characteristic of fuzzy. Fuzzy set theory was introduced in 1965 by
Lotfi Asker Zadeh [1] (an electrical engineer and researcher in mathematics, com-
puter science, artificial intelligence), who initially intended to impart a mathematical
treatment on certain subjective terms of language, such as “about” and “around”,
among others. This would be the first step in working towards programming and
storing concepts that are vague on computers, making it possible to perform calcu-
lations on vague or flexible entities, as do human beings. For example, we are all
unanimous in agreeing that the doubling of a quantity “around 3” results in another
“around 6 ”.
The formal mathematical representation of a fuzzy set is based on the fact that
any classic subset can be characterized by a function, its characteristic function, as
follows.
Definition 1.1 Let U be a non-empty set and A a subset of U . The characteristic

function of A is given by:
1 if x ∈ A
χ A (x) =
0 if x ∈
/ A
for all x ∈ U.
In this context, a classical subset A of U can uniquely be associated with its

characteristic function. So, in the classical case, we may opt for using the language
from either “set theory” or “function theory”, depending on the problem at hand.
Note that the characteristic function χ A : U → {0, 1} of the subset A shows
which elements of the universal set U are also elements of A, where χ A (x) = 1
meaning that the element x ∈ A, while χ A (x) = 0 means that x is not element
of A. However, there are cases where an element is partially in a set which means
we cannot always say that an element completely belongs to a given set or not. For
example, consider the subset of real numbers “near 2”:
A = {x ∈ R : x is near 2}.
Question. Does the number 7 and the number 2.001 belong to A? The answer to
this question is not no/yes (so is uncertain from this point of view) because we do
not know to what extent we can objectively say when a number is near 2. The only
reasonable information in this case is that 2.001 is nearer 2 than 7.
We now start the mathematical formalization of fuzzy set theory that shall be
addressed in this text, starting with the concept of fuzzy subsets.
1.2 Fuzzy Subset
Allowing leeway in the image or range set of the characteristic function of a set from
the Boolean set {0, 1} to the interval [0, 1], Zadeh suggested the formalization of
the mathematics behind vague concepts, such as the case of “near 2,” using fuzzy
subsets.
Definition 1.2 Let U be a (classic universal) set. A fuzzy subset F of U is defined

by a function ϕ F , called the membership function (of F)
ϕ F : U −→ [0, 1].
The subscript F on ϕ identifies the subset (F in this case) and the function ϕ F
is the analogue of the characteristic function of the classical subset as defined in
Definition 1.1 above. The value of ϕ F (x) ∈ [0, 1] indicates the degree to which the
element x of U belongs to the fuzzy set F; ϕ F (x) = 0 and ϕ F (x) = 1, respectively,
mean x for sure does not belong to fuzzy subset F and x for sure belongs to the fuzzy
subset F. From a formal point of view, the definition of a fuzzy subset is obtained
simply by increasing the range of the characteristic function from {0, 1} to the whole
interval [0, 1]. We can therefore say that a classical set is a special case of a fuzzy set
when the range of the membership function ϕ F is restricted to {0, 1} ⊆ [0, 1], that
is, the membership function ϕ F retracts to the characteristic function χ F . In fuzzy
language, a subset in the classic sense is usually called a crisp subset.
A fuzzy subset F of U can be seen as a standard (classic) subset of the Cartesian
product U × [0, 1]. Moreover, we can identify a fuzzy subset F of U with the set of
ordered pairs (i.e., the graph of ϕ F ):
{(x, ϕ F (x)) : with x ∈ U }.
The classic subset of U defined below
supp F = {x ∈ U : ϕ F (x) > 0}
is called the support of F and has a fundamental role in the interrelation between
classical and fuzzy set theory. Interestingly, unlike fuzzy subsets, a support is a crisp
set. Figure 1.1 illustrates this fact.
It is common to denote a fuzzy subset, say F, in fuzzy set literature, not by its
membership function ϕ F but simply by the letter F. In this text we have decided
to distinguish between F and ϕ F . In classical set theory, whenever we refer to a
particular set A we are actually considering a subset of a universal set U but for
the sake of simplicity or convenience, we say set A even though set A is actually a
subset. The fuzzy set literature also uses of these terms. This text will use both terms
interchangeably.
We now present some examples of fuzzy subsets.
1.2 Fuzzy Subset 7
χF
1 ϕF 1
supp F supp F = F
(a) fuzzy subset U (b) crisp subset U
Fig. 1.1 Illustration of subsets fuzzy and crisp
Example 1.1 (Even numbers) Consider the set of natural even numbers:
E = {n ∈ N : n is even}.
This set E has characteristic function which assigns to any natural number n the
value χ E (n) = 1 if n is even and χ E (n) = 0 if n odd. This means that the set
of even numbers is a particular fuzzy set of the set of natural numbers N, since
χ E (n) ∈ [0, 1], in particular

1 if n is even
χ E (n) = ϕ E (n) =
0 otherwise.
In this case, it was possible to determine all the elements of E, in the domain of the
universal set N of natural numbers, because every natural number is either even or
odd. However, this is not the case for other sets with imprecise boundaries.
Example 1.2 (N umber s near 2) Consider the following subset F of the real num-
bers near of 2:
F = {x ∈ R : x is near 2}.
We can define the function ϕ F : R −→ [0, 1], which associates each real value
x proximity to point 2 using the expression

(1 − |x − 2|) if 1 ≤ x ≤ 3
ϕ F (x) = , x ∈ R.
0 if x ∈
/ [1, 3]
In this case the fuzzy subset F of points near 2, characterized in ϕ F , is such that
ϕ F (2.001) = 0.999 and ϕ F (7) = 0. We say that x = 2.001 is near to 2 with
proximity degree 0.999; x = 7 is not near 2.
On the other hand, in the example above, one may suggest a different membership
function to show proximity to the value 2. For example, if the closeness proximity
function were defined by

ν F (x) = ex p − (x − 2)2 ,
with x ∈ R, then the elements of the fuzzy set F, characterized by the function ν F ,
as above, have different degrees of belonging from ϕ F : ν F (2.001) = 0.99999 and
ν F (7) = 1.388 × 10−11 .
We can see that the notion of proximity is subjective and also depends on the
membership function which can be expressed in countless different ways, depending
on how we wish to evaluate the idea of a “nearness”. Note that we could also define the
concept “numbers near 2” by a classic set with membership function ϕ F , considering,
for example, a sufficiently small value of and the characteristic function for the
interval (2 − , 2 + ), by following expression:

1 if |x − 2| <
ϕF (x) =
0 if |x − 2| ≥ .
Note that being close to 2 means being within a preset neighborhood of 2. The
element of subjectivity lies in the choice of the radius of the neighborhood consid-
ered.In this specific case, all the values within the neighborhood are close to 2 with
the same degree of belonging, which is 1.
Example 1.3 (Small natural numbers) Consider the fuzzy subset F containing the
small natural numbers,
F = {n ∈ N : n is small}.
Does the number 0 (zero) belong to this set? What about the number 1.000? In
the spirit of fuzzy set theory, it could be said that both do indeed belong to F, but
with different degrees depending on the membership function ϕ F with respect to the
fuzzy set F. The membership function associated with F must be built in a way that
is consistent with the term “small”, the context of the problem and the application
(mathematical model). One possibility for the membership function of F would be
1
ϕ F (n) = , n ∈ N.
n+1
Therefore, we could say that the number 0 (zero) belongs to F with a degree of
belonging equal to ϕ F (0) = 1, while 999 also belongs to F, albeit with a degree of
belonging equal to ϕ F (999) = 0.001.
It is clear that in this case the choice of the function ϕ F was made in a some-
what arbitrary fashion, only taking into account the meaning of “small”. To make a
mathematical model of the “small natural number” notion, and thus to link F to a
1.2 Fuzzy Subset 9
membership function, we could, for example, choose any monotonically decreasing

sequence, starting at 1 (one) and converging to 0 (zero) as
{ϕn }n∈N ; with ϕ0 = 1.
For example,
ϕ F (n) = e−n ;
1
ϕ F (n) = 2 ;
n +1
1
ϕ F (n) = .
ln (n + e)
The function to be selected to represent the fuzzy set considered depends on

several factors related to the context of the problem under study. From the standpoint
of strict fuzzy set theory, any of the previous membership functions can represent the
subjective concept in question. However, what should indeed be noted is that each
of the above functions produces a different fuzzy set, according to Definition 1.2.
The examples we have presented above possess a universal set U for each fuzzy
set that is clearly articulated. However, this is not always the case. In most cases
of interest for mathematical modeling, the universal set needs to be delineated and
in most instances the support set as well. Let’s illustrate this point with a few more
examples.
Example 1.4 (Fuzzy set of young people, Y) Consider the inhabitants of a specific
city. Each individual in this population can be associated to a real number corre-
sponding to their age. Consider the whole universe as the ages within the interval
U = [0, 120] where x ∈ U is interpreted as the age of a given individual. A fuzzy
subset Y , of young people of this city, could be characterized by the following two
membership functions for young, Y1 , Y2 according different experts:
⎧
⎪
⎨ 1 if x ≤ 10
80 − x
ϕY1 (x) = if 10 < x ≤ 80 ,
⎪
⎩ 70
0 if x > 80
⎧ 2
⎨ 40 − x
if 0 ≤ x ≤ 40
ϕY2 (x) = 40 .
⎩
0 if 40 < x ≤ 120
In the first case Y1 , the support is the interval [0, 80] and in the second case Y2 , the
support is [0, 40]. The choice of which function to be used to represent the concept of
young people relies heavily on the context or analysis. Undoubtedly, about to retire
professors would choose Y1 . Note that the choice of U = [0, 120] as the interval
for the universal set is linked to the fact that we have chosen to show how much
an individual is young and our knowledge that statistically in the world, no one has
lived beyond 120. If another characteristic were to be adopted, such as the number
of grey hairs, to indicate the degree of youth, the universe would be different as well
as the support.
The next example shows a bit more about fuzzy set theory in the mathematical
modeling of “fuzzy concepts”. In this example, we shall present a mathematical
modeling treatment that allows the quantification and exploration of a theme of
important social concern, poverty. This concept could be modeled based on a variety
of appropriate variables, calorie intake, consumption of vitamins, iron intake, the
volume of waste produced, or even the income of every individual, among many other
features that are possible. However, we have chosen to represent poverty assuming
that the only variable is income level. A possible mathematical model for poverty is
shown below.
Example 1.5 (Fuzzy subset of the poor) Consider that the concept of poor is based
on the income level r . Hence, it is reasonable to assume that when you lower the
income level, you raise the level of poverty of the individual. This means that the
fuzzy subset Ak , of the poor in a given location, can be given by the following
membership function:
⎧ 2 k
⎨
1− r
if r ≤ r0
ϕ Ak (r ) = r0 .
⎩
0 if r > r0
The parameter k indicates a characteristic of the group we are considering. This

parameter might indicate such things as the environment in which the individual
people are situated. The parameter value, r0 , is the minimum income level believed
to be required to be out of poverty.
As illustrated in Fig. 1.2 above, we have that if k1 ≥ k2 , then ϕ Ak1 (r ) ≤ ϕ Ak2 (r )
which means that an individual group in k1 , with an income level r̄ , would be poorer
for this income level were the individual in group k2 . We can also say that in terms of
income, it is easier to live in the places where k is greatest. So, intuitively, k shows
Fig. 1.2 The membership

function of the fuzzy subset
of “poor”
ϕA ( r )
k 2
ϕA ( r )
k 1
r
r r0
1.2 Fuzzy Subset 11
whether the environment where the group lives is less or more favorable to life. The
parameter k may give an idea of the degree of saturation that a group has on the
environment and, therefore, can be considered as an environmental parameter.
1.3 Operations with Fuzzy Subsets
This section presents the typical operations on fuzzy sets such as union, intersection
and complementation. Each one of these operations is obtained from membership
functions. Let A and B be two fuzzy subsets of U , with their respective membership
functions ϕ A and ϕ B . We say that A is a fuzzy subset of B, and write A ⊂ B if
ϕ A (x) ≤ ϕ B (x) for all x ∈ U . Remember that the membership function of the
empty set (∅) is given by ϕ∅ (x) = 0, while the universal set U has membership
function ϕU (x) = 1 for all x ∈ U . Hence we can say that ∅ ⊂ A and A ⊂ U for all
A.
Definition 1.3 (Union) The union between A and B is the fuzzy subset of U whose
membership function is given by:
ϕ A∪B (x) = max{ϕ A (x) , ϕ B (x)}, x ∈ U.
We note that this definition is an extension of the classic case. In fact, when A and
B are classics subsets of U have:

1 if x ∈ A or x ∈ B
max{χ A (x) , χ B (x)} =
0 if x ∈/ A and x ∈ / B

1 if x ∈ A ∪ B
=
0 if x ∈/ A∪B
= χ A∪B (x) , x ∈ U.
Definition 1.4 (Intersection) The intersection between A and B is the fuzzy subset
of U whose membership function is given by the following equation:
ϕ A∩B (x) = min{ϕ A (x) , ϕ B (x)}, x ∈ U.
Definition 1.5 (Complement) The complement of A is the fuzzy subset A in U

whose membership function is given by:
ϕ A (x) = 1 − ϕ A (x) , x ∈ U.
Exercise 1.1 Suppose that A and B are classic subsets of U .

1. Check that

1 if x ∈ A ∩ B
min{χ A (x) , χ B (x)} =
0 if x ∈
/ A ∩ B.
2. Check that χ A∩B (x) = χ A (x) χ B (x). Note that this identity is does not hold in
cases where A and B are fuzzy
subsets.
3. Check that χ A∩A (x) = 0 A ∩ A = ∅ and that χ A∪A (x) = 1 A ∪ A = U
for all x ∈ U.
Unlike the classical situation, in the fuzzy context (see Fig. 1.3) we can have:
• ϕ A∩A (x) = 0 = ϕ∅ (x) which means that we may not have
A ∩ A = ∅;
• ϕ A∪A (x) = 1 = ϕU (x) which means that we may not have
A ∪ A = U.
In the following example, we intend to exploit the special features presented by
the concept of the complement of a fuzzy set.
Example 1.6 (Fuzzy set of the elderly) The fuzzy set O of the elderly (the old) should
reflect a situation opposite of young people given above, when considering the ages
that belong to O. While youth membership functions should decrease with age, the
elderly should be increase with age. One possibility for the membership function of
O is:
ϕ O (x) = 1 − ϕY (x) ,
where ϕY is the membership function of the fuzzy subset “young”. Therefore, the
fuzzy set O is the complement of fuzzy Y . In this example, if we take the set of
young people Y1 as having the membership function mentioned in the first part of
Example 1.4, then:
A B
U U
A ∪ B
A’
A ∩ B
U U U
(a) (b) (c)
Fig. 1.3 Operations with fuzzy subsets: a union, b intersection, and c complement
1.3 Operations with Fuzzy Subsets 13
Fig. 1.4 Fuzzy subsets of

young and elderly elderly: ϕ I
1
young: ϕ J
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
age
⎧
⎪
⎪0 if x ≤ 10
⎨
x − 10
ϕ O (x) = 1 − ϕY1 (x) = if 10 < x ≤ 80 .
⎪
⎪
⎩ 70
1 if x > 80
A graphical representation for O and Y1 is shown in Fig. 1.4.

Note that this operation, complement, exchanges degrees of belonging for the
fuzzy subsets of O and Y1 . This property characterizes the fuzzy complement, which
means that while ϕ A (x) represents the degree of compatibility of x with the linguistic
concept in question, ϕ A (x) shows the incompatibility of x with the same concept.
One consequence of the imprecision of fuzzy sets is that there is a certain overlap
of a fuzzy set with its complement. In Example 1.6, an individual who belongs to
the of fuzzy set young with grade 0.8, also belongs to its complement O with grade
0.2. Also note that it is quite possible for a member to belong to one set and also
its complementary set with the same degree of belonging (in Fig. 1.4 this value is
45), showing that the more doubt we have about an element belonging to the set, the
nearer to 0.5 is the degree of belong to this set. That is, the closer to a 0.5 membership
value an element is, the greater the doubt of whether or not this element belongs to
the set. The degree 0.5 is the maximum doubt (greatest entropy). This is a major
difference from classical set theory in which an element either belongs to a set or to
its complement, these being mutually exclusive, and there is absolutely no doubt.
Here it must also be noted that we have defined young and elderly (old), which
are admittedly linguistic terms of opposite meanings, through the use of fuzzy sets
that are not necessarily complementary. For example, we could have used ϕY1 :
⎧
⎪
⎨ 40 − x
2
if 0 ≤ x ≤ 40
ϕY2 (x) = 40
⎪
⎩0 if 40 < x ≤ 120,
in which case we could have obtained

⎧
⎪
⎨ x − 40
2
if 40 < x ≤ 120
ϕ O (x) = 80
⎪
⎩0 if x ≤ 40.
Exercise 1.2 Assume that the fuzzy set for young people, Y , is given by
⎧ 4
⎪
⎨ x 2
1− if x ∈ [10, 120]
ϕY (x) = 120 .
⎪
⎩1 if x ∈
/ [10, 120]
1. Define a fuzzy set for the elderly.

2. Determine the age of an individual considered of middle age, which means grade
0.5, both in terms of youth and of elderly (old) age, assuming that the fuzzy set
of the elderly is the complement to that of the young.
3. Draw the graph of the young and elderly (old) for part 2, and then compare it with
Example 1.6.
We will next extend the concept to the complement for A ⊆ B where A is a
fuzzy subset of fuzzy set B and both in relation to the universe U . In this case, the
complement of A in relation to B is denoted by the fuzzy set A B which has the
following membership function:
ϕ A (x) = ϕ B (x) − ϕ A (x) , x ∈ U.

B
Note also that the complement of A in relation to U is a particular case of the

complement of A in B since ϕU (x) = 1.
In the following example, we shall try to further exploit the concept of the ideas
of complements with fuzzy subsets as defined in Example 1.5.
Example 1.7 (Fuzzy set of the poor revisited) If the environment in which a group
lives suffers any kind of degradation, from what we saw in Example 1.5, this results
in a decreased environmental parameter, declining from k1 to a lower value k2 , so
that the individual having income level r in k1 has degree of poverty ϕ Ak1 (r ) less
than that of another ϕ Ak2 (r ) with the same income r in k2 . That is,
ϕ Ak1 (r ) < ϕ Ak2 (r ) ⇔ Ak1 ⊂ Ak2 .
Such a change could lead to the poverty level of a pauper, represented by Ak2 . The
fuzzy complement of Ak1 in Ak2 is the fuzzy subset given by

A .
A k2
1.3 Operations with Fuzzy Subsets 15
This set is not empty, and its membership function is given by
ϕ( A ) = ϕ Ak2 (r ) − ϕ Ak1 (r ) , r ∈ U.
Ak
2
A recompense to the group that has suffered such a fall should be that of the same
status of poverty as before. That is, given an income of r1 , the group should have an
income of r2 (after the fall) which means that
ϕ Ak2 (r2 ) − ϕ Ak1 (r1 ) = 0.
Therefore r2 − r1 > 0 and the recompense should be r2 − r1 (see Fig. 1.5).

We shall now make some brief comments and also look at the consequences of
the major operations between fuzzy sets.
If A and B are sets in the classical sense, then the characteristic functions of their
operations also satisfy the definitions defined for the fuzzy case, showing coher-
ence between such concepts. For example, if A is a (classic) subset of U , then the
characteristic function χ A (x) of its complement is such that

χ A (x) = 0 if χ A (x) = 1 ⇔ x ∈ A;
χ A (x) = 1 if χ A (x) = 0 ⇔ x ∈
/ A.
In this case, either x ∈ A or x ∈

/ A, while the theory of fuzzy sets does not necessarily
have this dichotomy. As seen in the Example 1.6, it is not always true that A ∩ A = ∅
for fuzzy sets, and it may not even true that A ∪ A = U. The following example
reinforces these facts.
Example 1.8 (Fuzzy sets of fever and/or myalgia, muscular rheumatism) Let’s sup-
pose that the universal set U is the set of all patients within a clinic, identified by
numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Let A and B be fuzzy subsets that represent patients with
fever and myalgia, respectively. Table 1.1 shows the operations union, intersection
and complement.
ϕAk1 ϕAk2
ϕAk1 (r1 ) = ϕAk2 (r2 )
r
r1 r2 r0
Fig. 1.5 Recompense for changing in environment

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behind the bolster from whence the noise proceeded, when it was
immediately heard in another part of the bed; but as soon as his
hand was taken away, it returned to the same place as before. On
being told that it would imitate noises, he made trial by scratching
several times upon the sheet, as five, seven, and ten times: it exactly
replied to them by equal numbers. He looked under and behind the
bed, grasped the bolster, sounded the wall, and made every possible
search to find out any trick, contrivance, or other cause, as well as his
friend, but could discover nothing. So that in truth he concluded,
that the noise was made by some spirit or demon. After it had
scratched about for half an hour or more, it got into the middle of the
bed under the children, where it lay panting loudly, like a dog out of
breath. The author then put his hand upon the place, and plainly felt
the bed bearing up against it, as if it contained something within
thrusting it up. He grasped the feather to feel if he could distinguish
any thing alive; then looked every where about to see if there were
any dog or cat, or other creature, in the room; every one present
followed his example, but still they discovered nothing. The motion it
caused by its panting was so violent, that it had a visible effect on the
room and windows. In this manner it continued for half an hour, the
time the author was present. During this panting, something was
seen in a linen bag that was hung up against another bed, that was
taken for a mouse or rat, but upon the closest examination of it,
nothing was found in it of any description.
The author and his friend afterwards slept in the very identical
chamber where the principal disturbance had been first made. He
was awakened by a terrible noise made on the outside of the chamber
door. He awoke his friend, and asked three distinct times who was
there, but received no answer. At last he exclaimed, “in the name of
God who is it, and what would you have? To which a voice
answered, nothing with you. Thinking it was some of the servants of
the house, they went to sleep again. Mentioning, however, the
circumstance the next morning to Mr. Monpesson, he declared that
no one of the house lay that way, or had any business thereabouts,
and that none of his servants had got up until they were called by
him some time after daylight. This the servants confirmed, and
protested that the noise was not made by them. Previous to this, Mr.
Monpesson had told us, that it would go away in the middle of the
night, and return at different times about four o’clock, which was
supposed to be about the hour it was heard by the author and his
friend.
Another circumstance connected with this seemingly mysterious
business was, that the author’s servant coming up to him in the
morning, told him, that one of his horses, the one which he had rode,
was all in a sweat, and appeared in every other respect as if it had
been out all night. His friend and him went down to the stable, and
actually found him in the state he was represented to be. On inquiry
how the horse had been treated, he was assured that the animal had
been well fed, and taken care of as he used to be; his servant besides
was extremely careful of his horses. “The horse,” says the author, “I
had had a good time, and never knew but he was very sound. But
after I had rid him a mile or two very gently over a plain down from
Mr. Monpesson’s house, he fell lame, and having made a hard shift
to bring me home, died in two or three days, no one being able to
imagine what he ailed. This, I confess, might be the consequence of
an accident, or some unusual distemper, but all things put together,
it seems very probable that it was somewhat else.”
Mr. Monpesson then stated, that one morning a light appeared in
the children’s chamber, and a voice was heard crying—a witch! a
witch! for at least an hundred times together. At another time, seeing
some wood move on the chimney of a room where he was, he fired a
pistol among it; and on examining the place afterwards, several
drops of blood were discovered on the hearth, and on several parts of
the stairs. For two or three nights after the discharge of the pistol
nothing was heard, but it returned, and so persecuted a little child
newly taken from the nurse, that the poor infant was not suffered to
rest either day or night; nor would the mischievous demon suffer a
candle to burn in the room, but either ran up the chimney with them
alight, or threw them under the bed. It so frightened this child by
leaping upon it, that it continued in fits for several hours; and
ultimately they were obliged to remove the children out of the house.
Something was heard the next night, about the hour of midnight,
coming up stairs; it knocked at Mr. Monpesson’s door, but he not
answering, it went up another pair of stairs to his man’s chamber,
and appeared to him at his bed foot. The exact shape and proportion
of the demon he could not discover; all he saw was a great body, with
two red and glaring eyes, which for some time were steadily fixed
upon him; and at length they disappeared.
On another occasion, in the presence of strangers, it purred in the
children’s bed like a cat, and lifted the children up so forcibly, that
six men could not keep them down; upon which they removed the
children to another bed, but no sooner were they laid here than this
became more troubled than the first. In this manner it continued for
four hours, and so unmercifully beat the poor children’s legs against
the posts, that they were obliged to sit up all night. It then emptied
chamber-pots, and threw ashes into the beds, and placed a long iron
pike in Mr. Monpesson’s, and a knife into his mother’s. It would fill
porringers with ashes, throw every thing about, and kick up the
devil’s diversion from morning till night, and from night till morning.
About the beginning of April, 1663, a gentleman that lay in the
house, had all his money turned black in his pockets; and one
morning Mr. Monpesson going into his stable, found the horse he
was accustomed to ride upon, lying on the ground with one of its
hind legs in its mouth, and fastened there in such a manner, that
several men with a leaver, had the greatest difficulty in getting it out.
After this there were a number of other remarkable things occurred,
but the author’s account extends no farther; with the exception that
Mr. Monpesson wrote him word, that the house was afterwards, for
several nights, beset with seven or eight beings in the shape of men,
who, as soon as a gun was discharged, would scud away into an
adjoining arbour.
The drummer, however, it appears, was apprehended in
consequence of these strange and mysterious occurrences. He was
first, it seems, committed to Gloucester jail for stealing, where a
Wiltshire man going to see him, the drummer enquired the news in
Wiltshire: the reply was, none: No, returned he, do you not hear of
the drumming at a gentleman’s house at Tedworth? That I do, said
the other, enough: “I, quoth the drummer, I have plagued him (or
something to that purpose) and he never shall be quiet until he has
made me satisfaction for taking away my drum. Upon information
made to this effect, the drummer was tried for a wizzard at Sarum,
and all the main circumstances here related being sworn to at the
assizes, by the minister of the parish, and several others of the most
intelligent and substantial inhabitants, who had been eye and
earwitnesses of them, from time to time, for many years past; the
drummer was sentenced to transportation, and accordingly sent
away; and as the story runs, ’tis said, that by raising storms, and
terrifying the seamen, he contrived, some how or other, to get back
again. And what is still as remarkable, is, that during his restraint
and absence, Mr. Monpesson’s house remained undisturbed; but as
soon as the demon of his quiet returned, he fell to his old tricks again
as bad as ever.”
The drummer had been a soldier under Cromwell, and used to talk
much of “gallant books” which he had of an old fellow, who was
counted a wizzard.
On the authority of Mr. Glanvil, who had it from Mr. Monpesson,
we have the following story.
“The gentleman, Mr. Hill, who was with me, being in company
with one Compton of Somersetshire, who practised physic, and
pretends to strange matters, related to him this story of Mr.
Monpesson’s disturbance. The physician told him, he was sure it was
nothing but a rendezvous of witches, and that for an hundred pounds
he would undertake to rid the house of all disturbance. In pursuit of
this discourse, he talkt of many high things, and having drawn my
friend into another room, apart from the rest of the company, said,
he would make him sensible that he could do something more than
ordinary, and asked him who he desired to see; Mr. Hill had no great
confidence in his talk, but yet being earnestly pressed to name some
one, he said he desired to see no one so much as his wife, who was
then many miles distant from them at her home. Upon this,
Compton took up a looking-glass that was in the room, and setting it
down again, bid my friend look into it, which he did, and then, as he
most solemnly and seriously professeth, he saw the exact image of
his wife, in that habit which she then wore, and working at her
needle in such a part of the room, there also represented, in which
and about which time she really was, as he found upon enquiring
upon his return home. The gentleman himself averred this to me,
and he is a sober, intelligent, and credible person. Compton had no
knowledge of him before, and was an utter stranger to the person of
his wife. The same man is again alluded to, in the story of the
witchcrafts of Elizabeth Styles, whom he discovered to be a witch, by
foretelling her coming into a house, and going out again without
speaking. He was by all accounted a very odd person.”
THE DEMON OF JEDBURGH.
In 1752, when Captain Archibald Douglass, who was then on a

recruiting party in the South of Scotland, his native country, lay in
the town of Jedburgh, his serjeant complained to him that the house
in which he was quartered was haunted by a spirit, which had several
times appeared to him by candle light in a very frightful form. The
captain, who was a man of sense and far from being superstitious,
treated the serjeant as a person who had lost his reason, threatened
to cane him as a coward, and told him that goblins and spirits were
beneath the notice of a soldier. The captain the night following had a
strange dream, in which he saw the landlady of the inn, where the
serjeant lay, in company with a great number of other females,
ascending in the air, some riding on brooms, some on asses, and
others on cats, &c. The landlady invited him to accompany them in
their aërial excursion, to which consenting, he got upon a goat
behind one of the women, and was carried with great velocity to a
large heath near London, which he well knew on their arrival.
When all the females had alighted, his ears were suddenly alarmed
with a thousand yells the most hideous that could be conceived, to
the sound of which they all danced in a circle. The captain was placed
in the centre; beholding all the wild vagaries with wonder and
horror. When the music had ceased and the dancing closed, suddenly
he found himself by a phalanx of infernal furies, whose forks were all
aimed at his breast. The horror of this scene suddenly awaked the
captain, who was glad to find himself safe and in a sound skin at his
mother’s house, where he lay that night.
The next morning the serjeant, like the knight of the sorrowful
countenance, waited on the captain for fresh orders, again declaring
that he had seen the apparition which had threatened his life. The
captain heard him with less impatience and inattention than he had
the preceding day, saying, I myself have had a restless night and a
terrible dream, but these things, I tell you again, are beneath the
notice of a soldier. However, continued the captain, I am resolved to
sift this matter till I discover the ground of your complaint. I have a
notion that you, like myself, have been making too free with the
bottle. The serjeant replied, most solemnly declaring that he was
most perfectly in his senses when he saw a frightful spectre standing
at the side of his bed, and which changing its appearance, retired in
the shape of a great black cat, jumping from the window over the
church steeple. Now to let your honour into a secret, continued the
soldier, I was informed this morning, that the landlady is neither
more nor less than a witch, and her goodman is second-sighted, and
can tell, awake him from his sleep when you please, the precise hour
of the night, and the exact minute.
To cut short our story, the captain at night accompanied the
serjeant, well provided with fire arms, and a sword, to the chamber
alluded to. Having placed the arms upon the table, he lay down by
the soldier’s side in a bed without curtains, but enclosed with a frame
of wainscoting with sliding doors. At midnight, they heard three
knocks on one of the pannels, when the captain arose, ran to the
door, which he found fast locked, and having a candle, searched
every corner of the room without making any discovery. He lay down
a second time, and about an hour after again heard the knocking
three distinct times as before. Attempting to get up, the whole
wainscoting tumbled down upon the bed, the violent noise of which
alarmed the serjeant, who cried out, the witch! the witch is within! It
was a considerable time before they could extricate themselves from
the boarding, but so sooner was the captain disentangled than he saw
a prodigious large sable cat flying to the window, at which he fired a
pistol, and shot off one of its ears.
Next morning the captain called the landlord, and enquired how
long his house had been haunted. The landlord replied, you must ask
my wife, when she returns home, for she is seldom in bed after
midnight. Just as the husband was so saying, the wife came into the
kitchen, and falling into a swoon upon seeing the captain, fell down
prostrate on the floor, discomposed her head-dress, and discovered a
terrible wound on the left side of her head and the want of an ear.
The captain swore that he would take her before the provost, in order
that she might be committed for trial, but the husband interfering,
and the captain well knowing that he could not continue in the
country till the next circuit, contented himself with telling the story
among the circle of his friends, none of whom had the least reason to
doubt his veracity, as he was a gentleman of strict honour,
undaunted courage, and tried integrity.—It may be inferred from this
that witches have a capacity of changing their outward form, and
appearing in the shape of a cat, or the like, at the will; but this might
only be in the imagination of the captain and the serjeant, for it
would be hard to account for the loss of this witch’s real ear, had she
changed her body to that of the animal upon which the captain
supposed he had fired.
How to reconcile these and various similar stories to the standard
of common credence, is a task no less difficult than problematical;
and to ascertain the real cause of the scarcity, now-a-days, of such
mysterious and unaccountable occurrences, is at least a proof that
the devil has been losing latterly, from some cause or other, much of
his ascendancy over the human mind. To attempt to explain, or do
away with the supposition, that spirits, apparitions, demons, or other
preternatural agents, “hobgoblins damned,” or undamned, would be
to attack the fundamental parts of the christian religion, which we
are told and taught to believe constitutes a part of the law of the land.
The wisest philosophers, heroes, and vagrants, have all, from the
remotest antiquity downwards, testified to their appearance; and
divines themselves have been equally orthodox, and active in
promulgating the force of their testimony in support of the doctrine
of preternatural agency; which neither the supposition of a morbid
imagination, “contained in tabular views[65] of the various
comparative degrees of faintness, vividness, or intensity, supposed to
exist between sensations and ideas, when conjointly excited or
depressed,” can account for on rational principles, when the mind is
curious to be divested of all these presumed causes. That there are
states and conditions of the mind, when, from intensity of
excitement, the imagination may be played upon no one will deny;
but that such causes should always have existed, is equally as
preposterous and absurd—still between these and imposture,
perhaps truth may lie; and then it is a point of scepticism that does
little honour to the social compact, to cast even a shade of doubt on
the moral character of a man, whose veracity was never before
impeached on any other subject.
THE GHOST OF JULIUS CÆSAR.
Marcus Brutus, one of the murderers of Julius Cæsar, being one

night in his tent, saw a monstrous figure come in about the third
hour of the night. Brutus immediately cried out, what art thou, a man
or a god? and why art thou come hither? The spectre answered, I am
thy evil genius; thou shalt see me at Philippi. Brutus calmly
answered, I will meet thee there. However, he did not go, but relating
the affair to Cassius, who being of the sect of Epicurus, and believing
nothing of these matters, told him it was a mere fancy; that there was
no such thing as genii or other spirits, which could appear to men;
that even if they should appear, they could not assume a human
shape or voice, and had no power over men. Though Brutus was
somewhat encouraged by those reasons, he could not entirely get the
better of his uneasiness: but this very Cassius, in the midst of the
battle of Philippi, saw Julius Cæsar, whom he had assassinated,
riding up to him full speed, which terrified him so much, that he fell
upon his own sword.
The ghosts of the slain at the battle of
Marathon.
Pausanias writes, that four hundred years after the battle of
Marathon, there were still heard in the place where it was fought, the
neighing of horses, and the shouts of soldiers, animating one another
to the fight. Plutarch also speaks of spectres seen, and dreadful
howlings heard in the public baths, where several citizens of
Chœronea, his native town, had been murdered. He says, that the
inhabitants had been obliged to shut up these baths, but that,
notwithstanding the precaution, great noises were still heard, and
dreadful spectres frequently seen by the neighbours. Plutarch, who is
an author of acknowledged gravity and good sense, frequently makes
mention of spectres and apparitions; particularly he says, that in the
famous battle above alluded to, several soldiers saw the apparition of
Theseus fighting for the Greeks and against the Persians.
Familiar spirit or ancient Brownie.
It is recorded in Socrates, that after the defeat of the Athenian
army under the prætor Laches, as he was flying in company with the
Athenian general, and came to a place where several roads met, he
refused to go the same road that the others took, and the reason
being asked him, he answered that his genus, or familiar spirit, who
frequently attended him, dissuaded him from it; and the event
justified the precaution, for all those who went a different way, were
killed, or made prisoners by the enemy’s cavalry.
GIPSIES—EGYPTIANS.
In most parts of the continent the gipsies are called Cingari, or

Zingari; the Spaniards call them Gitanos, the French Bohemiens or
Bohemiennes.
It is not certain when the Gipsies, as they are now termed, first
appeared in Europe; but mention is made of them in Hungary and
Germany, so early as the year 1417. Within 10 years afterwards we
hear of them in France, Switzerland and Italy. The date of their
arrival in England is more uncertain; it is most probable that it was
not until near a century afterward. In the year 1530, they are spoken
of in the following manner, in the penal statutes.
“Forasmuch as before this time, divers and many outlandish people calling
themselves Egyptians, using no craft nor feat of merchandize, have come into this
realm, and gone from shire to shire, and place to place, in great company, and used
great subtil and crafty means to deceive the people; bearing them in mind that
they, by palmistry, could tell men’s and women’s fortunes; and so many times, by
craft and subtilty, have deceived the people of their money; and also have
committed many heinous felonies and robberies, to the great hurt and deceit of the
people they have come among,” &c.
This is the preamble to an act, by which the Gipsies were ordered

to quit the realm under heavy penalties. Two subsequent acts, passed
in 1555 and 1565, made it death for them to remain in the kingdom;
and it is still on record, that thirteen were executed under these acts,
in the county of Suffolk, a few years before the restoration. It was not
till about the year 1783, that they were repealed.
The Gipsies were expelled France in 1560, and Spain in 1591: but it
does not appear they have been extirpated in any country. Their
collective numbers, in every quarter of the globe, have been
calculated at 7 or 800,000[66]. They are most numerous in Asia, and
in the northern parts of Europe. Various have been the opinion
relative to their origin. That they came from Egypt, has been the
most prevalent. This opinion (which has procured them here the
name of Gipsies, and in Spain that of Gittanos) arose from some of
the first who arrived in Europe, pretending that they came from that
country; which they did, perhaps, to heighten their reputation for
skill in palmistry and the occult sciences. It is now we believe pretty
generally agreed, that they came originally from Hindostan; since
their language so far coincides with the Hindostanic, that even now,
after a lapse of nearly four centuries, during which they have been
dispersed in various foreign countries, nearly one half of their words
are precisely those of Hindostan[67]; and scarcely any variation is to
be found in vocabularies procured from the Gipsies in Turkey,
Hungary, Germany, and those in England[68]. Their manners, for the
most part, coincide, as well as the language, in every quarter of the
globe where they are found; being the same idle wandering set of
beings, and seldom professing any mode of acquiring a livelihood,
except that of fortune-telling[69]. Their religion is always that of the
country in which they reside; and though they are no great
frequenters either of mosques or churches, they generally conform to
rites and ceremonies as they find them established.
Grellman says that, in Germany, they seldom think of any
marriage ceremony; but their children are baptized and the mothers
churched. In England their children are baptized, and their dead
buried, according to the rites of the church; perhaps the marriage
ceremony is not more regarded than in Germany; but it is certain
they are sometimes married in churches. Upon the whole, as
Grellman observes, we may certainly regard the Gipsies as a singular
phenomenon in Europe. For the space of between three and four
hundred years they have gone wandering about like pilgrims and
strangers, yet neither time nor example has made in them any
alteration: they remain ever and every where what their fathers were:
Africa makes them no blacker, nor does Europe make them whiter.
Few of the descendants of the aboriginal Gipsies are to be found
any where in Europe, and in England less than any where else. The
severity of the police against this description of the degenerate
vagabonds existing at the present day, have considerably thinned
their phalanxes, and brought them to something like a due sense of
the laws and expectations of civilized society. What remains of them,
nevertheless, contrive one way or other to elude the vigilance of the
laws by different masked callings, under which they ostensibly
appear to carry on their usual traffic.
The modern Gipsies pretend that they derive their origin from the
ancient Egyptians, who were famous for their knowledge in
astronomy and other sciences; and, under the pretence of fortune-
telling, find means to rob or defraud the ignorant and superstitious.
To colour their impostures, they artificially discolour their faces, and
speak a kind of gibberish or cant peculiar to themselves. They rove
up and down the country in large companies, to the great terror of
the farmers, from whose geese, turkeys, and fowls, they take
considerable contributions.
When a fresh recruit is admitted into the fraternity, he is to take
the following oath, administered by the principal marauder, after
going through the annexed forms:—
First, a new name is given to him, by which he is ever after to be
called; then standing up in the middle of the assembly, and directing
his face to the dimber damber, or principal man of the gang, he
repeats the following oath, which is dictated to him by some
experienced member of the fraternity; namely, “I, Crank Cuffin, do
swear to be a true brother, and that I will, in all things, obey the
commands of the great tawny prince, and keep his counsel, and not
divulge the secrets of my brethren.
“I will never leave nor forsake the company, but observe and keep
all the times of appointment, either by day or by night, in every place
whatever.
“I will not teach any one to cant, nor will I disclose any of our
mysteries to them.
“I will take my prince’s part against all that shall oppose him, or
any of us, according to the utmost of my ability; nor will I suffer him,
or any one belonging to us, to be abused by any strange Abrams,
Rufflers, Hookers, Paillards, Swaddlers, Irish Toyles, Swigmen,
Whip Jacks, Jackmen, Bawdy Baskets, Dommerars, Clapper
Dogeons, Patricoes, or Curtals; but will defend him, or them, as
much as I can, against all other outliers whatever. I will not conceal
aught I win out of Libkins[70], or pun the Ruffmans[71], but will
preserve it for the use of the company. Lastly, I will cleave to my
Doxy-wap[72], stifly, and will bring her Duds[73], Margery Prators[74],
Goblers[75], Grunting Cheats[76], or Tibs of the Buttery[77], or any
thing else I can come at, as winning[78] for her wappings.”
The canters, it would appear, have a tradition, that from the three
first articles of this oath, the first founders of a certain boastful,
worshipful fraternity, (who pretend to derive their origin from the
earliest times) borrowed both the hint and the form of their
establishment; and that their pretended derivation of the first word
Adam is a forgery, it being only from the first Adam Tyler[70]. At the
admission of a new brother, a general stock is raised for booze or
drink, to make themselves merry on the occasion. As for peckage or
eatables, this they can procure without money, for while some are
sent to break the ruffmans, or woods and bushes, for firing, others
are detached to filch geese, chickens, hens, ducks, or mallards, and
pigs. Their morts, or women, are their butchers, who presently make
bloody work with what living things are brought to them; and having
made holes in the ground under some remote hedge, in an obscure
place, they make a fire, and boil or broil their food; and when it is
done enough, fall to work tooth and nail; and having eaten more like
beasts than human beings, they drink more like swine than men,
entertaining each other during the time with songs in the canting
dialect. As they live, so they lie together, promiscuously, and know
not how to claim a property either in their goods or children; and
this general interest ties them more firmly together, than if all their
rags were twisted into ropes, to bind them indissolubly from a
separation, which detestable union is farther consolidated by the
preceding oath.
They stroll up and down all summer-time in droves, and
dexterously pick pockets while they are telling fortunes; and the
money, rings, silver thimbles, &c. which they get, are instantly
conveyed from one hand to another, till the remotest person of the
gang (who is not suspected, because they come not near the person
robbed) gets possession of it; so that in the strictest search, it is
impossible to recover it, while the wretches, with imprecations,
oaths, and protestations, disclaim the thievery.
That by which they were said to get the most money, was, when
young gentlewomen of good families and reputation, have happened
to be with child before marriage, a round sum is often bestowed
among Gipsies, for some mort to take the child; and, as in these cases
it was never heard of more by the true mother and family, so the
disgrace was kept concealed from the world; and, in the event of the
child surviving, its parents are never known.
The following account of these wandering beings, is taken from
Evelyn’s Journal, which throws some light on their degeneracy from
the primitive tribes.
“In our statutes they are called Egyptians, which implies a
counterfeit kind of rogues, who ‘being English or Welsh people,’
disguise themselves in uncouth habits, smearing their faces and
bodies, and framing to themselves an unknown, canting language,
wander up and down; and under pretence of telling fortunes, curing
diseases, &c. abuse the common people, trick them of their money,
and steal all that is not too hot or too heavy for them. See several
statutes made against them, 28 Henry VIII. c. 10. 1 & 2. Philip and
Mary, c. 4 & 5. Eliz. c. 20.
“The origin of this tribe of vagabonds called Egyptians, and
popularly Gipsies, is somewhat obscure; at least the reason of the
denomination is so. It is certain, the ancient Egyptians had the name
of great cheats, and were famous for the subtilty of their impostures,
whence the name might afterwards pass proverbially into other
languages, as is pretty certain it did into the Greek and Latin, or else
the ancient Egyptians, being much versed in astronomy, which in
those days was little better than Astrology, the name was on that
score assumed by these diseurs de bonne avanture, as the French
call them, or tellers of good fortune. Be this as it may, there is scarce
any country in Europe, even at the present day, but has its Egyptians,
though not all of them under this denomination: the Latins called
them Egyptii; the Italians, Cingani, and Cingari; the Germans,
Zigeuna; the French, Bohemiens; others Saracens, and others
Tartars, &c.
Munster, Geogr. L. III. c. 5. relates, that they made their first
appearance in Germany, in 1417, exceedingly tawny and sun-burnt,
and in pitiful array, though they affected quality, and travelled with a
train of hunting dogs after them, like nobles. He adds, that they had
passports from King Sigismund of Bohemia, and other princes. Ten
years afterwards they came into France, and thence passed into
England.
Pasquier, in his Recherches, L. IV. c. 19, relates the origin of the
Gipsies thus: On the 17th of April, 1427, there came to Paris twelve
penitents, or persons, as they said, adjudged to penance; viz. one
duke, one count, and ten cavaliers, or persons on horseback; they
took on themselves the characters of Christians of the Lower Egypt,
expelled by the Saracens; who having made application to the Pope,
and confessed their sins, received for penance, that they should
travel through the world for seven years, without ever lying in a bed.
Their train consisted of 120 persons, men, women, and children,
which were all that were left of 1200, who came together out of
Egypt. They had lodgings assigned them in the chapel, and people
went in crowds to see them. Their ears were perforated, and silver
buckles hung to them. Their hair was exceedingly black and frizzled;
their women were ugly, thieves, and pretenders to telling of fortunes.
The bishop soon after obliged them to retire, and excommunicated
such as had shewn them their hands.
By an ordinance of the estates of Orleans, in the year 1560, it was
enjoined, that all these impostors under the name of Bohemians and
Egyptians, do quit the kingdom on the penalty of the gallies. Upon
this they dispersed into lesser companies, and spread themselves
over Europe. The first time we hear of them in England was three
years afterwards, viz. anno 1563.
Ralph Volaterranus, making mention of them, affirms, that they
first proceeded or strolled from among the Uxii, a people of Persis or
Persia. (See Gipsies.)
The following characteristic sketch of one of the primitive gipsies,
is ably delineated in the popular novel of Quentin Durward; with
which we shall close this article:
Orleans, who could not love the match provided for him by the
King, could love Isabelle, and follows her escort. Quentin, however,
unhorses him, and sustains a noble combat with his companion the
renowned Dunais; till a body of the archers ride up to his relief. The
assailants are carried off prisoners, and our victorious Scot pursues
his dangerous way, under uncertain guidance, as the following
extract will shew:
“While he hesitated whether it would be better to send back one of
his followers, he heard the blast of a horn, and looking in the
direction from which the sound came, beheld a horseman riding very
fast towards them. The low size, and wild, shaggy, untrained state of
the animal, reminded Quentin of the mountain breed of horses in his
own country; but this was much more finely limbed, and, with the
same appearance of hardness, was more rapid in its movements. The
head particularly, which, in the Scottish poney, is often lumpish and
heavy, was small and well placed in the neck of this animal, with thin
jaws, full sparkling eyes, and expanded nostrils.
“The rider was even more singular in his appearance than the
horse which he rode, though that was extremely unlike the horses of
France. Although he managed his palfrey with great dexterity, he sat
with his feet in broad stirrups, something resembling a shovel, so
short, that his knees were well nigh as high as the pommel of his
saddle. His dress was a red turban of small size, in which he wore a
sullied plume, secured by a clasp of silver; his tunic, which was
shaped like those of the Estradiots, a sort of troops whom the
Venetians at that time levied in the provinces, on the eastern side of
their gulf, was green in colour, and tawdrily laced with gold; he wore
very wide drawers or trowsers of white, though none of the cleanest,
which gathered beneath the knee, and his swarthy legs were quite
bare, unless for the complicated laces which bound a pair of sandals
on his feet; he had no spurs, the edge of his large stirrups being so
sharp as to serve to goad the horse in a very severe manner. In a
crimson sash this singular horseman wore a dagger on the right side,
and on the left a short crooked Moorish sword, and by a tarnished
baldrick over the shoulder hung the horn which announced his
approach. He had a swarthy and sun-burnt visage, with a thin beard,
and piercing dark eyes, a well-formed mouth and nose, and other
features which might have been pronounced handsome, but for the
black elf-locks which hung around his face, and the air of wildness
and emaciation, which rather seemed to indicate a savage than a
civilized man.
“Quentin rode up to the Bohemian, and said to him, as he
suddenly assumed his proper position on the horse, ‘Methinks,
friend, you will prove but a blind guide, if you look at the tail of your
horse rather than his ears.’
“‘And if I were actually blind,’ answered the Bohemian, ‘I could
guide you through any county in this realm of France, or in those
adjoining to it.’
“‘Yet you are no Frenchman born,’ said the Scot.
“‘I am not,’ answered the guide.
“‘What countryman, then, are you?’ demanded Quentin.
“‘I am of no country,’ answered the guide.
“‘How! of no country?’ repeated the Scot.
“‘No!’ answered the Bohemian, ‘of none. I am a Zingaro, a
Bohemian, an Egyptian, or whatever the Europeans, in their
different languages, may chuse to call our people; but I have no
country.’
“‘Are you a Christian?’ asked the Scotchman.
“The Bohemian shook his head.
“‘Dog,’ said Quentin, (for there was little toleration in the spirit of
Catholicism in those days,) ‘dost thou worship Mahoun?’
“‘No,’ was the indifferent and concise answer of the guide, who
neither seemed offended nor surprised at the young man’s violence
of manner.
“‘Are you a Pagan then, or what are you?’
“‘I have no religion,’ answered the Bohemian.
“Durward started back; for, though he had heard of Saracens and
idolaters, it had never entered into his ideas or belief, that any body
of men could exist who practised no mode of worship whatsoever. He
recovered from his astonishment, to ask where his guide usually
dwelt.
“‘Wherever I chance to be for the time,’ replied the Bohemian. ‘I
have no home.’
“‘How do you guard your property?’
“‘Excepting the clothes which I wear, and the horse I ride on, I
have no property.’
“‘Yet you dress gaily, and ride gallantly,’ said Durward. ‘What are
your means of subsistence?’
“‘I eat when I am hungry, drink when I am thirsty, and have no
other means of subsistence than chance throws in my way,’ replied

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A First Course in Fuzzy Logic Fuzzy

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MATLAB Fuzzy Logic Toolbox User s Guide The Mathworks

Fuzzy Techniques: Theory and Applications: Proceedings

Laécio Carvalho de Barros

The series “Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing” contains publications on

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/2941

A First Course in Fuzzy

ISSN 1434-9922 ISSN 1860-0808 (electronic)

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017

Printed on acid-free paper

This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature

Laécio Carvalho de Barros

1 Fuzzy Sets Theory and Uncertainty in Mathematical Modeling . . . 1

5 Fuzzy Rule-Based Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

7.5 Fuzzy Integrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

10.1.4 Application: Life Expectancy of a Group

Laécio Carvalho de Barros is Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Institute

Weldon Alexander Lodwick is Professor of Mathematics at the University of

1.1 Uncertainty in Modeling and Analysis

the modeling are characterized by such uncertainties. The mathematical theory on

to spontaneity rather than to violence. As is well known, Socrates confronted the

Definition 1.1 Let U be a non-empty set and A a subset of U . The characteristic

In this context, a classical subset A of U can uniquely be associated with its

1.2 Fuzzy Subset

Definition 1.2 Let U be a (classic universal) set. A fuzzy subset F of U is defined

{(x, ϕ F (x)) : with x ∈ U }.

The classic subset of U defined below

supp F = {x ∈ U : ϕ F (x) > 0}

(a) fuzzy subset U (b) crisp subset U

Fig. 1.1 Illustration of subsets fuzzy and crisp

membership function, we could, for example, choose any monotonically decreasing

{ϕn }n∈N ; with ϕ0 = 1.

The function to be selected to represent the fuzzy set considered depends on

The parameter k indicates a characteristic of the group we are considering. This

Fig. 1.2 The membership

1.3 Operations with Fuzzy Subsets

ϕ A∪B (x) = max{ϕ A (x) , ϕ B (x)}, x ∈ U.

ϕ A∩B (x) = min{ϕ A (x) , ϕ B (x)}, x ∈ U.

Definition 1.5 (Complement) The complement of A is the fuzzy subset A in U

Exercise 1.1 Suppose that A and B are classic subsets of U .

Fig. 1.4 Fuzzy subsets of

A graphical representation for O and Y1 is shown in Fig. 1.4.

in which case we could have obtained

1. Define a fuzzy set for the elderly.

ϕ A (x) = ϕ B (x) − ϕ A (x) , x ∈ U.

Note also that the complement of A in relation to U is a particular case of the

ϕ Ak1 (r ) < ϕ Ak2 (r ) ⇔ Ak1 ⊂ Ak2 .

This set is not empty, and its membership function is given by

ϕ Ak2 (r2 ) − ϕ Ak1 (r1 ) = 0.

Therefore r2 − r1 > 0 and the recompense should be r2 − r1 (see Fig. 1.5).

In this case, either x ∈ A or x ∈

Fig. 1.5 Recompense for changing in environment

In 1752, when Captain Archibald Douglass, who was then on a

Marcus Brutus, one of the murderers of Julius Cæsar, being one

In most parts of the continent the gipsies are called Cingari, or

This is the preamble to an act, by which the Gipsies were ordered