Fuzzy Relational Systems: Foundations and Principles (IFSR International Series on Systems Science and Engineering)

This book deals with fuzzy relational systems, i.e. with systems of fuzzy relations defined on a set. Fuzzy relational systems represent mathematical framework for fuzzy relational modeling which is the most successful part of fuzzy logic. The book deals with foundational aspects of fuzzy relational systems. It starts (Chapter 2) with motivations and discussions about fuzzy approach. The result of this are some requirements for the structures of truth values for fuzzy logic. These structures are analyzed in subsequent sections. Chapter 3 is a key one and develops a general theory of fuzzy relational systems, paying special attention to issues which are degenerate in classical "non-fuzzy" case. Chapter 4 deals with binary fuzzy relations and particularly with similarity and order, two most frequently used types of binary relations. Chapter 5 deals with binary fuzzy relations (interpreted as fuzzy relations between a set of objects and a set of attributes) and formal analysis of such relations. Chapter 6 focuses on the problem of composition and decomposition of binary fuzzy relations. Chapter 7 contains miscellaneous topics: fuzzy closure operators, similarity spaces, selected applications, and a formal deductive system of fuzzy logic. Each Chapter is closed by bibliographical remarks. The book contains a bibliography and an index of key terms. The book provides a general framework for dealing with fuzzy relational systems and brings several new results.