Models for Inexact Reasoning

Fuzzy Logic – Lesson 1

Crisp and Fuzzy Sets

Master in Computational Logic

Department of Artificial Intelligence
Origins and Evolution of Fuzzy Logic
• Origin: Fuzzy Sets Theory (Zadeh, 1965)
• Aim: Represent vagueness and impre-cission
of statements in natural language
• Fuzzy sets: Generalization of classical (crisp)
sets
• In the 70s: From FST to Fuzzy Logic
• Nowadays: Applications to control systems
– Industrial applications
– Domotic applications, etc.
 Fuzzy Logic
Fuzzy Logic - Lotfi A. Zadeh, Berkeley

• Superset of conventional (Boolean) logic that

has been extended to handle the concept of
partial truth
• Truth values (in fuzzy logic) or membership
values (in fuzzy sets) belong to the range [0,
1], with 0 being absolute Falseness and 1
being absolute Truth.
• Deals with real world vagueness
 Real-World Applications
• ABS Brakes
• Expert Systems
• Control Units
• Bullet train between Tokyo and Osaka
• Video Cameras
• Automatic Transmissions
 Crisp (Classic) Sets
• Classic subsets are defined by crisp predicates
– Crisp predicates classify all individuals into two
groups or categories
• Group 1: Individuals that make true the predicate
• Group 2: Individuals that make false the predicate
– Example:

E=Z
= {n ∈ E | n“n= is
A ⊆ EPredicate: 2k , k ∈ Z }
1 +odd”
 Crisp Characteristic Functions
• The classification of individuals can be done
using a indicator or characteristic function:
µ A : E → {0,1}
1, x ∈ A
µ A ( x) = 
0, x ∉ A
• Note that:
µ A−1 (1) = {K, −3, −1,1,3,K}
µ A−1 (0) = {K, −4, −2, 0, 2, 4, K}
 Fuzzy Sets
• Human reasoning often uses vague predicates
– Individuals cannot be classified into two groups!
(either true or false)
• Example: The set of tall men
– But… what is tall?
– Height is all relative
– As a descriptive term, tall is very subjective and
relies on the context in which it is used
• Even a 5ft7 man can be considered "tall" when he is
surrounded by people shorter than he is
 Fuzzy Membership Functions
• It is impossible to give a classic definition for
the subset of tall men
• However, we could establish to which degree
a man can be considered tall
• This can be done using membership functions:

µ A : E → [0,1]
 Fuzzy Membership Functions
• μA(x) = y
– Individual x belongs to some extent (“y”) to subset
A
– y is the degree to which the individual x is tall
• μA(x) = 0
– Individual x does not belong to subset A
• μA(x) = 1
– Individual x definitelly belongs to subset A
 Types of Membership Functions
• Gaussian
 Types of Membership Functions
• Triangular
 Types of Membership Functions
• Trapezoidal
 Example
• E = {0, …, 100} (Age)
• Fuzzy sets: Young, Mature, Old
 Membership Functions
• Membership functions represent distributions of
possibility rather than probability
• For instance, the fuzzy set Young expresses the
possibility that a given individual be young
• Membership functions often overlap with each
others
– A given individual may belong to different fuzzy sets
(with different degrees)
 Membership Functions
• For practical reasons, in many cases the
universe of discourse (E) is assumed to be
discrete
E = { x1 , x2 , K, xn }

• The pair (μA(x), x), denoted by μA(x)/x is called

fuzzy singleton
• Fuzzy sets can be described in terms of fuzzy
singletons
n
A = {( µ A ( x) / x)} = U µ A ( xi ) / xi
i =1
 Basic Definitions over Fuzzy Sets
• Empty set: A fuzzy subset A ⊆ E is empty
(denoted A = ø) iff
µ A ( x) = 0, ∀x ∈ E
• Equality: two fuzzy subsets A and B defined
over E are equivalent iff

µ A ( x) = µ B ( x), ∀x ∈ E
 Basic Definitions over Fuzzy Sets
• A fuzzy subset A ⊆ E is contained in B ⊆ E iff
µ A ( x) ≤ µ B ( x), ∀x ∈ E

• Normality: A fuzzy subset A ⊆ E is said to be

normal iff
max µ A ( x) = 1
x∈E

• Support: The support of a fuzzy subset A ⊆ E

is a crisp set defined as follows
S A = { x ∈ E | µ A ( x) > 0} φ ⊆ S A ⊆ E
 Operations over Fuzzy Sets
• The basic operations over crisp sets can be
extended to suit fuzzy sets
• Standard operations:
– Intersection:
µ A∩ B ( x) = min( µ A ( x), µ B ( x))
– Union:
µ A∪ B ( x) = max( µ A ( x), µ B ( x))

– Complement:
µ A ( x) = 1 − µ A ( x )
 Operations over Fuzzy Sets
• Intersection
 Operations over Fuzzy Sets
• Union
 Operations over Fuzzy Sets
• Complement
 Operations over Fuzzy Sets

• Conversely to classic set theory, min (∩), max

(∪), and 1-id (¬) are not the only possibilities
to define logical connectives
• Different functions can be used to represent
logical connectives in different situations
• Not only membership functions depend on
the context, but also logical connectives!!
 Fuzzy Complement (c-norms)
• Given a fuzzy set A ⊆ E, its complement can be
defined as follows:
µ A = C ( µ A ( x ) ) , ∀x ∈ E

• The function C(∙) must satisfy the following

conditions:
C (0) = 1, C (1) = 0
∀a, b ∈ [0,1], a ≤ b → C (a) ≥ C (b)
 Fuzzy Complement (c-norms)
• In some cases, two more properties are
desirable
– C(x) is continuous
– C(x) is involutive:
C (C ( a)) = a, ∀a ∈ E
• Examples:
C ( x) = 1 − x Std . negation
1− x
C ( x) = λ ∈ (0, ∞) Sugeno
1− λx
1
C ( x) = (1 − x )
w w
w ∈ (0, ∞) Yager
 Fuzzy Intersection (t-norms)
• Given two fuzzy sets A, B ⊆ E, their
intersection can be defined as follows:

µ A∩ B ( x) = T [ µ A ( x), µ B ( y )] ∀x, y ∈ E

• Required properties:
T ( x, y ) = T ( y , x) ∀x, y ∈ E commutativity
T (T ( x, y ), z ) = T ( x, T ( y, z )) ∀x, y, z ∈ E associativity
( x ≤ y ), ( w ≤ z ) → T ( x, w) ≤ T ( y , z ) ∀x, y, w, z ∈ E monotony
T ( x, 0) = 0 ∀x ∈ E absorption
T ( x,1) = x ∀x ∈ E neutrality
 Fuzzy Intersection (t-norms)
• Examples:

T ( x, y ) = min( x, y ) min
T ( x, y ) = max(0, x + y − 1) Lukasiewicz
T ( x, y ) = x ⋅ y product
min( x, y ) max( x, y ) = 1
T ( x, y ) =  mod product
 0 otherwise
 Fuzzy Union (t-conorms)
• Given two fuzzy sets A, B ⊆ E, their union can
be defined as follows:

µ A∪ B ( x) = S [ µ A ( x), µ B ( y )] ∀x, y ∈ E

• Required properties:
S ( x, y ) = S ( y , x) ∀x, y ∈ E commutativity
S ( S ( x, y ), z ) = S ( x, S ( y, z )) ∀x, y, z ∈ E associativity
( x ≤ y ), ( w ≤ z ) → S ( x, w) ≤ S ( y, z ) ∀x, y, w, z ∈ E monotony
S ( x,1) = 1 ∀x ∈ E absorption
S ( x, 0) = x ∀x ∈ E neutrality
 Fuzzy Union (t-conorms)
• Examples:

S ( x, y ) = max( x, y ) max
S ( x, y ) = min(1, x + y ) Lukasiewicz
S ( x, y ) = x + y − x ⋅ Y sum
max( x, y ) min( x, y ) = 0
S ( x, y ) =  mod sum
 1 otherwise
 Properties of Fuzzy Operations
• The t-norms and t-conorms are bounded
operators:
T ( x, y ) ≤ min( x, y ) ∀x, y ∈ [0,1]
S ( x, y ) ≥ max( x, y ) ∀x, y ∈ [0,1]

• The minimum is the biggest t-norm

• The maximum is the smallest t-conorm
 Properties of Fuzzy Operations
• Duality (Generalized De Morgan Laws):
C (T ( x, y )) = S (C ( x), C ( y ))
C ( S ( x, y )) = T (C ( x), C ( y ))

• Only some tuples (T, S, C) meet this property

• In such cases the t-norm and the t-conorm are
said to be dual w.r.t. the fuzzy complement
– Examples:
• (max, min, 1-id)
• (prod, sum, 1-id)
 Properties of Fuzzy Operations
• Distributive Properties:

T ( x, S ( y , z )) = S (T ( x, y ), T ( x, z ))
S ( x, T ( y, z )) = T ( S ( x, y ), S ( x, z ))

• The only tuple satisfying this property is (max,

min, 1-id)
 Properties of Fuzzy Operations
• In general, given t-norm T, and involutive
complement C, we can define operator:
S (a, b) = C (T (C (a), C (b)))
• It can be proved that S is a t-conorm s.t. tuple
(T, S, C) is dual w.r.t. c-norm C
• Similarly, given S and an involutive C, we can
define a dual T for S w.r.t. C as:
T (a, b) = C ( S (C (a), C (b)))
 Properties of Fuzzy Operations
• Some dual tuples (T, S, C) satisfy the following
properties (excluded-middle and non-
contradiction):
S ( x, C ( x)) = E
T ( x, C ( x)) = ∅
• It can be proved that distributive laws do not
hold in such cases
 Properties of Fuzzy Operations
• Some dual tuples (T, S, C) satisfy the following
properties:
S(x,C(x))=1 excluded-middle
T(x,C(x))=0 non-contradiction
• It can be proved that distributive laws do not
hold in such cases
– Except for crisp logic: (max, min, 1-id) are dual (De
Morgan), distributive, and “consistent”
 Choice of T, S, and C
• The selection of T, S, and C always depend on
the concrete case or application
– We need to determine which properties are
required for our application
• The most common choice:
– T = min, S = max, C = 1-id
– Properties:
• Comm., assoc., neutrality, absorption, involution, inv. 0-
1, inv. 1-0, duality, idempotence, distributive
 Example
• Let us suppose that we are thirsty and we are
thinking about going to a bar to have a drink
• However, we are reluctant to go to whatever
bar
• We want to go to a bar satisfying the following
requirements:
– We want the bar to be traditional
– We want to go to a bar close to our home
– We want the drinks to be cheap
 Example
• To decide to which bar to go, we will make the
following assumptions:
– We consider that a bar is traditional if it started
working 5 years or more ago
– A bar is close to our home if it is not farther than
ten blocks
– A drink is cheap if it costs 1 Euro or less
 Example
• We know four different bars to which we can
go:

Price Years Blocks

Bar 1 1.40 3 3
Bar 2 0.80 7 12
Bar 3 1.00 4 9
Bar 4 1.25 5 10
 Example
• Using the classical set theory to solve this
problem, we have that the chosen bar must
satisfy the following logical formula:
( years ≥ 5) ∧ ( blocks ≤ 10 ) ∧ ( price ≤ 1)
• This yields the following solution:
Classical
Price Years Blocks Solution
Bar 1 0 0 1 0
Bar 2 1 1 0 0
Bar 3 1 0 1 0
Bar 4 0 1 1 0
 Example
• Using the classic set theory we are bounded to
stay at home L
– None of the bars satisfy our requirements!
• This is not consistent with the fact “we are
thirsty”
• We need a more flexible approach
• Let us now try the fuzzy set based approach
 Example
• We distinguish three fuzzy sets described by
the following predicates:
– “The bar is traditional”
– “The bar is close to home”
– “The drink is cheap”
• Thus, first of all we need to model the
abovementioned fuzzy sets
– i.e. we need to provide the fuzzy membership
functions associated to such fuzzy sets
 Example
• MF for the predicate “the bar is traditional”
 Example
• MF for the predicate “the bar is close to
home”
 Example
• Membership function for the predicate “the
drink is cheap”
 Example
• Now, the second step involves the selection of
the fuzzy operators needed for this application
• In this case, we will use the following
operators:
– T = min, S = max, C = 1-id
• In other cases we will have to carefully choose
the fuzzy operators depending on the required
properties for the concrete application
 Example
• Results obtained using fuzzy sets theory:

Price Years Blocks Solution

Bar 1 0,2 0,5 1 0,2
Bar 2 1 1 0,6667 0,6667
Bar 3 1 0,875 1 0,875
Bar 4 0,5 1 1 0,5