Crisp Sets:

 

let us first concentrate on the concept of Universal set (also called the universe of discourse). A Universal set (represented by X) is a set consisting of all possible elements (also known as members) related to a particular context. For example, if our aim is to investigate on the technical universities, then all the technical universities of the world may be assumed to form a Universal set. It is important to mention that a number of sets can be derived from the Universal set. Let us try to find the set of technical universities having only three departments each. To obtain the above set, we check with each university whether it belongs to that set. Thus, there is a fixed and well-defined boundary between the elements of that set and those lying outside it. The above set with a fixed boundary is known as a crisp set.

A set is generally represented by its elements: Let us assume that there are n technical universities, each of them has three departments. The set of technical universities having three departments is denoted by A= {a1a2,...,an} A set can also be represented by the property of its element like the following A = {x\P(x}},

Notations Used in Set Theory

1. It indicates an empty set (also known as null set) that does not
2. 3. 4. contain any Element x A: It states that an element x of the Universal set X belongs to set A. x A: It represents a condition that an element x of the Universal set X does not belong to set A. A B: It is used to indicate that set A is a subset of set B, that is, each element of A is also an element of B but the reverse may not be true. A B: It indicates that set A is a superset of set J3, that is, each element of B is also an element of A but the reverse may not be true. A = B: It states that the sets A and B are equal, that is, both of them contain the same elements. If A B and B A., then A = B. A =! B: It says that the sets A and B are not equal.

5.

6. 7.

B: It is used to represent that A is a proper subset of B, for which both the conditions A B and A =!B are to be true and consequently, B contains at least one element that is missing in A. 9. A B: It states that the set A is a proper superset of set B, for which both the conditions A B and A =!B are to be satisfied. It means that set A contains at least one element that is missing in set B. 10. \A\: It indicates the cardinality of set A that is defined as the total number of elements present in that set. For example, in case of a singleton set \A\ = 1.
8. A

Crisp Set Operations:

A few set operations are explained below. Difference: The difference between two sets A and B is represented as follows: A - B = {x\x A and x$B} It is also known as relative complement of set B with respect to set A, which contains all the elements of A, those are not included in B (refer to Fig. 5.1(a)). Absolute complement of a set A is indicated by A or Ac and it is defined as the

A-B

Figure 5.1: The diagrams showing the complements of a set - (a) relative complement, (b) absolute complement

Notes:

It is important to note the following things: Complement of a complement yields the original set. Absolute complement of an empty set is nothing but the Universal set. Absolute complement of the Universal set yields an empty set.

Intersection: Intersection of two sets, namely A and B is denoted by A 0 B

and it is defined as follows: A B = {x /x A and x B} Fig. 5.2 shows the intersection of two sets A and By as the shaded area. Two sets A and B are called disjoint, if there is-no common element between them and it is indicated by A B = Example: Let A = {a,c,d,f,r,g,h} and B = {c,d,r,m,n}. Therefore, A B = {c, d, r}.

Figure 5.2: A diagram showing the intersection of two sets

Properties of Crisp Sets

Let us consider some crisp sets A, B and C defined in the Universal set X. The following properties of the crisp sets are important to mention: 1. Law of involution: A=A 2. Laws of commutativity: A B=B A 3. Laws of associativity: (A U B) U C = A U (B U C) 4. Laws of distributivity: A (B C) = (A B)

(A C)

5. Laws of idempotence/tautology: A A=A 6.Laws of absorption: A (A B) =A 7.Laws of identity: AUX = A 8. De Morgan's Laws: (A U B)= A B :

9. Law of contradiction: A A= 10. Law of excluded middle A A=X

Fuzzy Sets:
Fuzzy sets are the sets with imprecise (vague) boundaries. Real-world problems are generally associated with different types of uncertainties and imprecision's.  probability theory can handle only one out of several different types of possible uncertainties. Let us take one example, in which Mr. A requests Mr. B, one of his friends, to bring some red apples for him from the market. There are two uncertainties at least, which are related to the following; (i) availability of the apples (ii) a guarantee that the apple is red. Depending on the season, there is a probability (that is, the frequency of likelihood that an element is in a class) of obtaining the apples, which varies between 0.0 and 1.0. According to the crisp set, the apples will be either red (1) or non-red (0).

On the other hand, in fuzzy set, the colour - red can be defined as follows using the concept of membership (that is, similarity of an element to a class) function value : If the colour is Perfectly Red (PR), then it may be said red with a membership value of 1.0, if it is Almost Red (AR), then it is considered as red with a membership value of 0.8,  if it is Slightly Red (SR), then it is assumed to be red with a membership value of 0.4, even if it is Not Red (NRD), then also it is called red with a membership value of 0.0, and so on.  Thus, in fuzzy set, an element can be a member of the set with some membership value (that is, degree of belongingness). Thus, a fuzzy set is considered to be a more general concept of the classical set. It is to be noted that the characteristic function used in crisp set has been renamed as the membership function in fuzzy set.

Representation of a Fuzzy Set:

A fuzzy set A(x] is represented by a pair of two things - the first one is the element x and the second one is its membership value A(x), given below. A(x) ={(x, A(x)) ,x X} (5. 8) It may be either discrete or continuous in nature, as discussed below.

Discrete Fuzzy Set:

If a fuzzy set A(x) is discrete in nature, it can be expressed using the membership values of its elements. where n is the number of elements present in the set. Let us take an example, in which atmospheric temperature during the period of 1st day to 15-th day of a month has been found to be medium. The medium temperature (M) can be represented: M = 0.05/1 + 0.2/2 + 0.3/3 + 0.4/4 + 0.55/5 -1- 0.7/6 + 0.875/7 + 1.0/8 + 0.875/9 + 0.7/10 + 0.55/11 + 0.4/12 + 0.3/13 + 0.2/14 4- 0.05/15. The + sign does not indicate any algebraic sum but collection of the pairs of elements and their membership values used to represent a fuzzy set. Fig. 5.5 shows the above represen-tation in a plot. It is important to note that it can also be expressed as follows: M = {(1, 0.05), (2, 0.2), (3, 0.3), (4, 0.4), (5, 0.55), (6, 0.7), (7, 0.875), (8, 1.0), (9, 0.875), (10, 0.7), (11, 0.55), (12,0.4), (13, 0.3), (14,0.2), (15,0.05)}.

Continuous Fuzzy Set: A continuous fuzzy set A(x) Is expressed mathematically like the following:
A(x) = J
HA (

 Bell-shaped Membership Function: A bell-shaped membership function distribu-tion (refer to Fig. 5,10) is represented as Bell-shaped (x; a, b,c) where a controls the width of the function, 6 (a positive number) indicates the slope of the distribution and c is the center of the function.

Difference Between Crisp Set and Fuzzy Set:

Let us take another example to distinguish between the concept of crisp set and that of fuzzy set, in which Mr. Y requests Mr. Z to meet him at 7.00 pm. Fig. 5.12 shows the difference between the crisp and fuzzy sets. According to the crisp set theory, if Mr. Z can meet Mr. Y exactly at 7.00 pm, then it is true (generating full membership, that is, 1.0); otherwise it is false (yielding non-membership, that is, 0.0). the other hand, The time 7,00 pm can be expressed within a range according to its representation in the fuzzy set (refer to Fig. 5.12), in which different times will have different membership function values lying in the range of 0.0 to 1.0. Thus, if Mr. Z meets Mr. Y at 7.05 pm, then also it will "be said that he has met his friend at 7.00 pm with the membership value /j. = 0.666, and so on. A crisp set has a fixed boundary, whereas the boundary of a fuzzy set is vague in nature.

Few Definitions in Fuzzy Sets:

1. a-cut of a fuzzy set A(x): It is a set consisting of elements x of the Universal set X) whose membership values are either greater than or equal to the value of a (refer to Fig. 5.13). It is denoted by the symbol a/^()* Thus, a-cut of a fuzzy set A(x) is

A(x)

2 4

Figure 5,13: a-cut of a fuzzy set.

Support of a fuzzy set A(x):

It is defined as the set of all x X, such that A(X) > 0. It is indicated by supp(A) and can be represented as follows: supp(A) = {x X\ A(X) > 0}Thus, the support of a fuzzy set is nothing but its strong 0-cut.

3, Scalar cardinality of a fuzzy set A(x): It Is denoted by \A(x)\ and can be defined like the following: \A(x)\ = sum A(X Example: Let us consider a fuzzy set A(x) as follows: Its cardinality \A(x)\ = 0.1 4- 0,2 + 0.3 + 0.4 = 1.0. Core of a fuzzy set A(x): It Is nothing but its 1-cut. Height of a fuzzy set A(x): It is denoted by h(A) and defined as the largest of membership values of the elements contained in that set, Normal fuzzy set; A fuzzy set A(x) is called normal, if its height (A) = 1.0. Sub-normal fuzzy set; A fuzzy set A(x) is known as a sub-normal fuzzy set, if

Some Standard Operations in Fuzzy Sets

As a fuzzy set is expressed in terms of membership values of its elements, operations of the fuzzy sets are represented by their membership values. Some standard operations used in the fuzzy sets are explained below.

1. Subset of a fuzzy set: Let us consider two fuzzy sets - A(x) and B(x), such that all x X. The fuzzy set A(x) is called the subset of B(x), if A(X)< B(X))- It represented as follows: A(x) B(x), if A(X)< B(X)

Union of fuzzy sets:

Union of two fuzzy sets A(x) and B(x) for all x X, is represented by (A\JB)(x) and its membership function value is determined as follows (refer to the shaded area of Fig. It is important to note that union is analogous to logical OR operation

Algebraic product of fuzzy sets:

An algebraic product of two fuzzy sets A(x) and B(x) is denoted by A(x).B(x) and defined like the following: A(x).B(x) ={(x A(X). B(X)),X A}

Example: Let us consider the following two fuzzy sets: A(x) = {(x 1,0.1), (x2, 0.2), (x3, 0.3), (x4, 0.4)} B(x) = {(x1, 0.5), (x2, 0.7), (x3, 0.8), (x4, 0.9)} Now, A(x).B(x) =(x1,0.5), (x2,0.14), (x 3,0.24), (x4, 0.36)}.

7. Multiplication of a fuzzy set by a crisp number:

The product of a fuzzy set A(x) and a crisp number d is expressed as follows: d.A(x) = {(x,d xA(x)),x X}

Example: Let us consider a fuzzy set A(x): A(x) = {(x 1,0.1),(x 2,0.2),(x 3,0.3),(x4,0.4)} If d = 0.2, then d.A(x) = {(xl5 0.02), (x2, 0.04), (x3) 0.06), (x4, 0.08)}.

8. Power of a fuzzy set:

The p-th power of a fuzzy set A(x) yields another fuzzy set Ap(x], whose membership value can be determined as follows: AP(x) = {A(x)}p, xX, (5.28) It is important to mention that if p is set equal to 2 and |5 then Ap(x) is called concentration and dilation, respectively.

Example:
Let us consider a fuzzy set A(x): A(x) = {(m, 0.1), (x23 0.2), (33, 0.3), (x4, 0.4)} Now, for p = 25 A2(x) = {(a?i,0.01),(&2,0.04),(z3, 0.09), (&4, 0.16)}.

9. Algebraic sum of two fuzzy sets A(x) and B(x):

It is determined as follows; A(x) =B(x) = {(X x X},

10. Bounded sum of two fuzzy sets A(x) and B(x)i

It is defined like the following; A(x] +B(x] = {(x, A+B(X)), X X},

Properties of Fuzzy Sets

Fuzzy sets follow the properties of crisp sets stated in Section 5.1.3, besides the following two, as explained below. 1. Law of excluded middle: In crisp set, However, according to the fuzzy set, 2. Law of contradiction: As per crisp set, However, in the fuzzy set, It happens due to the fact that an element belongs to both a fuzzy set as well as its com-plement. For example, if the apple is red with membership value 0.8 (that is, (apple) = 0.8), it is also not red (red) with membership value of 0.2 (that is, (apple) = 0.2) (refer to Fig. 5.19). Fig. 5.19(a) shows the violation of the law of excluded middle, whereas the reason behind violation of the law of contradiction can be understood from Fig. 5.19(b).

Figure 5.19: Two properties of crisp sets violated by the fuzzy sets, such as (a) Law of excluded middle, (b) Law of contradiction.

summary
This chapter has been summarized as follows: An introduction is given to crisp sets, which are the sets having fixed boundaries. The notations used in set theory have been listed. After defining a few crisp set operations (such as difference, intersection, union), different properties of crisp sets have been stated. The concept of fuzzy sets has been introduced. Fuzzy sets are the sets with vague boundaries. It is important to mention that a crisp set is a special case of the more general concept of a fuzzy set. A fuzzy set may be either discrete or continuous in nature.. Some of the frequently-used membership function distributions for representing the fuzzy sets are discussed, in detail. After defining a few terms related to fuzzy sets (namely a-cut, support, scalar cardinality, core, height, and others), some standard operations used in fuzzy sets are explained in detail.