Fuzzy Set Theory

UNIT-2
 Introduction
• The word “fuzzy” means “vaguness (ambiguity)”.
• Fuzziness occurs when the boundary of a piece of
information is not clear-cut.
• Fuzzy sets - 1965 Lotfi Zadeh as an extension of classical
notation set.
• Classical set theory allows the membership of the elements
in the set in binary terms.
• Fuzzy set theory permits membership function valued in
the interval [0,1].
 Introduction
Example:
Words like young, tall, good or high are fuzzy.
• There is no single quantitative value which defines the term
young.
• For some people, age 25 is young, and for others, age 35 is
young.
• The concept young has no clean boundary.
• Age 35 has some possibility of being young and usually
depends on the context in which it is being considered.

Fuzzy set theory is an extension of classical set theory where

elements have degree of membership.
 Introduction
• In real world, there exist much fuzzy knowledge (i.e. vague,
uncertain inexact etc).
• Human thinking and reasoning (analysis, logic,
interpretation) frequently involved fuzzy information.
• Human can give satisfactory answers, which are probably
true.
• Our systems are unable to answer many question because
the systems are designed based upon classical set theory
(Unreliable and incomplete).
• We want, our system should be able to cope with
unreliable and incomplete information.
• Fuzzy system have been provide solution.
 Introduction
Classical set theory Fuzzy set theory
• Classes of objects with sharp • Classes of objects with un-
boundaries. sharp boundaries.

• A classical set is defined by • A fuzzy set is defined by its

crisp(exact) boundaries, i.e., ambiguous boundaries, i.e.,
there is no uncertainty about there exists uncertainty about
the location of the set the location of the set
boundaries. boundaries.

• Widely used in digital system • Used in fuzzy controllers.

design
 Introduction (Continue)
Example
Yes! (1)
Is water Crisp
colorless?
No! (0)

Extremely Honest
(1)

Very Honest
(0.80)

Fuzzy Honest at time

Is Ram Honest?
(0.40)

Extremely dishonest
(0.0)
Fuzzy vs crips
 Classical set theory
• A Set is any well defined collection of objects.
• An object in a set is called an element or member of that
set.
• Sets are defined by a simple statement,
• Describing whether a particular element having a certain
property belongs to that particular set.
A = {a1,a2,a3,……,an}
• If the elements ai (i = 1,2,3,….,n) of a set A are subset of
universal set X, then set A can be represented for all
elements x ϵ X by its characteristics function
µA (x) = 1 if x ϵ X otherwise 0
 Operations on classical set theory
Union: the union of two sets A and B is given as
A U B = { x | x є A or x є B }

Intersection: the intersection of two sets A and B is given as

A ∩ B = { x | x є A and x є B }

Complement: It is denoted by à and is defined as

à = { x | x does not belongs A and x є X }
 Fuzzy Sets
• Fuzzy sets theory is an extension of classical set theory.
• Elements have varying degree of membership. A logic based
on two truth values,
• True and False is sometimes insufficient when describing
human reasoning.
• Fuzzy Logic uses the whole interval between 0 (false) and 1
(true) to describe human reasoning.
• A Fuzzy Set is any set that allows its members to have
different degree of membership, called membership
function, having interval [0,1].
 Fuzzy Sets
• Fuzzy Logic is derived from fuzzy set theory
• Many degree of membership (between 0 to 1) are allowed.
• Thus a membership function µA(x) is associated with a fuzzy
sets à such that the function maps every element of
universe of discourse X to the interval [0,1].
• The mapping is written as: µÃ(x): X  [0,1].

• Fuzzy Logic is capable of handing inherently imprecise

(vague or inexact or rough or inaccurate) concepts
 Fuzzy Sets
• Fuzzy set is defined as follows:

• If X is an universe of discourse and x is a particular element

of X, then a fuzzy set A defined on X and can be written as a
collection of ordered pairs

A = {(x, µÃ(x)), x є X }
 Fuzzy Sets (Continue)
Example
• Let X = {g1, g2, g3, g4, g5} be the reference set of students.
• Let à be the fuzzy set of “smart” students, where “smart” is
fuzzy term.
à = {(g1,0.4)(g2,0.5)(g3,1)(g4,0.9)(g5,0.8)}

Here à indicates that the smartness of g1 is 0.4 and so on

 Fuzzy Sets (Continue)
Membership Function
• The membership function fully defines the fuzzy set
• A membership function provides a measure of the degree of
similarity of an element to a fuzzy set
Membership functions can
– either be chosen by the user arbitrarily, based on the
user’s experience (MF chosen by two users could be
different depending upon their experiences,
perspectives, etc.)
– Or be designed using machine learning methods (e.g.,
artificial neural networks, genetic algorithms, etc.)
 Fuzzy Sets (Continue)
There are different shapes of membership functions;
• Triangular,
• Trapezoidal,
• Gaussian, etc
 Fuzzy Sets (Continue)
• Triangular membership function
A triangular membership function is specified by three parameters {a, b, c}
a, b and c represent the x coordinates of the three vertices of µA(x) in a
fuzzy set A (a: lower boundary and c: upper boundary where
membership degree is zero, b: the centre where membership degree is
1)

µA(x)
1
0 if x ≤ a 
x − a 
 if a ≤ x ≤ b 
 
µ A ( x) =  b − a 
c − x if b ≤ x ≤ c 
c − b 
0
 if x ≥ c 

0
a b c x
 Fuzzy Sets (Continue)
• Trapezoid membership function
• A trapezoidal membership function is specified by four
parameters {a, b, c, d} as follows:

0 if x ≤ a 
x −a 
 if a ≤ x ≤b 
b −a 
 
µA ( x ) = 1 if b ≤ x ≤c 
d − x 
 if c ≤ x ≤d 
d −c 

0 if d ≤x 

• Gaussian membership function
 1 x−c m

µ A ( x, c, s, m) = exp − 
 2 s 
– c: centre
– s: width
– m: fuzzification factor (e.g., m=2)

µA(x) 1

0.9

0.8
c=5
s=2
0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4
m=2
0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 x
 1

0.9

0.8

0.7 c=5
0.6

s=0.5
0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1
m=2
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

0.9

c=5
0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4
s=5
0.3

0.2

0.1
m=2
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 1

c=5
0.9

0.8

s=2
0.7

0.6

m=0.2
0.5

0.4

0.3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

0.9

0.8
c=5
0.7

s=5
0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2
m=5
0.1

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
 Fuzzy Set Operation

Given X to be the universe of discourse and à and Ḃ to

be fuzzy sets with µA(x) and µB(x) are their respective
membership function, the fuzzy set operations are as
follows:
Union:
µA U B(x) = max (µA(x), µB(x))
Intersection:
µA ∩ B(x) = min (µA(x), µB(x))
Complement:
µA (x) =1- µA(x)
 Fuzzy Set Operation (Continue)

Example:
A = {(x1,0.5),(x2,0.7),(x3,0)} B = {(x1,0.8),(x2,0.2),(x3,1)}
Union:
A U B = {(x1,0.8),(x2,0.7),(x3,1)}
Because
µA U B(x1) = max (µA(x1), µB(x1))
= max(0.5,0.8)
= 0.8
µA U B(x2) = 0.7 and µA U B(x3) = 1
 Fuzzy Set Operation (Continue)

Example:
A = {(x1,0.5),(x2,0.7),(x3,0)} B = {(x1,0.8),(x2,0.2),(x3,1)}
Intersection:
A ∩ B = {(x1,0.5),(x2,0.2),(x3,0)}
Because
µA ∩ B(x1) = min (µA(x1), µB(x1))
= max(0.5,0.8)
= 0.5
µA ∩ B(x2) = 0.2 and µA ∩ B(x3) = 0
 Fuzzy Set Operation (Continue)

Example:
A = {(x1,0.5),(x2,0.7),(x3,0)}
Complement:
Ac = {(x1,0.5),(x2,0.3),(x3,1)}
Because
µA (x1) =1- µA(x1)
= 1 – 0.5
= 0.5
µA (x2) = 0.3 and µA (x3) = 1
• Support(A) is set of all points x in X such that
{(x∣ µA(x) > 0 }

• core(A) is set of all points x in X such that

{(x∣ µA(x) =1 }

• Fuzzy set whose support is a single point in X

with µA(x) =1 is called fuzzy singleton
 1.0 Core

0.0

Lower Support Upper

Boundary Boundary