Fuzzy Set

Fuzzy Set

Fuzzy sets are sets whose elements have degrees of membership. Fuzzy sets were introduced simultaneously by Lotfi A. Zadeh and Dieter Klaua in 1965 as an extension of the classical notion of set. In classical set theory, the membership of elements in a set is assessed in binary terms according to a bivalent condition — an element either belongs or does not belong to the set. By contrast, fuzzy set theory permits the gradual assessment of the membership of elements in a set; this is described with the aid of a membership function valued in the real unit interval . Fuzzy sets generalize classical sets, since the indicator functions of classical sets are special cases of the membership functions of fuzzy sets, if the latter only take values 0 or 1. In fuzzy set theory, classical bivalent sets are usually called crisp sets. The fuzzy set theory can be used in a wide range of domains in which information is incomplete or imprecise, such as bioinformatics.

Fuzzy sets can be applied, for example, to the field of genealogical research. When an individual is searching in vital records such as birth records for possible ancestors, the researcher must contend with a number of issues that could be encapsulated in a membership function. Looking for an ancestor named John Henry Pittman, whom you think was born in (probably eastern) Tennessee circa 1853 (based on statements of his age in later censuses, and a marriage record in Knoxville), what is the likelihood that a particular birth record for "John Pittman" is your John Pittman? What about a record in a different part of Tennessee for "J.H. Pittman" in 1851? (It has been suggested by Thayer Watkins that Zadeh's ethnicity is an example of a fuzzy set)