Fuzzy Graph Theory: Applications to

Global Problems John N. Mordeson

Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmass.com/product/fuzzy-graph-theory-applications-to-global-problems-jo
hn-n-mordeson/
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Introduction to Graph Theory: With Solutions to

Selected Problems 2nd Edition Khee Meng Koh

https://ebookmass.com/product/introduction-to-graph-theory-with-
solutions-to-selected-problems-2nd-edition-khee-meng-koh/

Modern Applications of Graph Theory 1st Edition

Zverovich

https://ebookmass.com/product/modern-applications-of-graph-
theory-1st-edition-zverovich/

Introduction to Graph Theory 2, 2002 reprint Edition

Douglas B. West

https://ebookmass.com/product/introduction-to-graph-
theory-2-2002-reprint-edition-douglas-b-west/

Equilibrium problems and applications Kassay G.

https://ebookmass.com/product/equilibrium-problems-and-
applications-kassay-g/
Group Theory Finite Discrete Groups and Applications
John Demetrius Vergados

https://ebookmass.com/product/group-theory-finite-discrete-
groups-and-applications-john-demetrius-vergados/

Microeconomics: Theory and Applications with Calculus,

5th Global Edition Jeffrey M. Perloff

https://ebookmass.com/product/microeconomics-theory-and-
applications-with-calculus-5th-global-edition-jeffrey-m-perloff/

Understanding Global Conflict and Cooperation: An

Introduction to Theory

https://ebookmass.com/product/understanding-global-conflict-and-
cooperation-an-introduction-to-theory/

A Modern Introduction to Fuzzy Mathematics 1. Edition

Apostolos Syropoulos

https://ebookmass.com/product/a-modern-introduction-to-fuzzy-
mathematics-1-edition-apostolos-syropoulos/

Human Anatomy and Physiology, Global Edition Elaine N.

Marieb & Katja N. Hoehn

https://ebookmass.com/product/human-anatomy-and-physiology-
global-edition-elaine-n-marieb-katja-n-hoehn/
Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing

John N. Mordeson
Sunil Mathew
G. Gayathri

Fuzzy
Graph
Theory
Applications to Global Problems
Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing

Volume 424

Series Editor
Janusz Kacprzyk, Systems Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences,
Warsaw, Poland
The series “Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing” contains publications on
various topics in the area of soft computing, which include fuzzy sets, rough sets,
neural networks, evolutionary computation, probabilistic and evidential reasoning,
multi-valued logic, and related fields. The publications within “Studies in Fuzziness
and Soft Computing” are primarily monographs and edited volumes. They cover
significant recent developments in the field, both of a foundational and applicable
character. An important feature of the series is its short publication time and
world-wide distribution. This permits a rapid and broad dissemination of research
results.
Indexed by SCOPUS, DBLP, WTI Frankfurt eG, zbMATH, SCImago.
All books published in the series are submitted for consideration in Web of Science.
John N. Mordeson · Sunil Mathew · G. Gayathri

Fuzzy Graph Theory

Applications to Global Problems
John N. Mordeson Sunil Mathew
Department of Mathematics Department of Mathematics
Creighton University National Institute of Technology Calicut
Omaha, NE, USA Calicut, Kerala, India

G. Gayathri
National Institute of Technology Calicut
Calicut, Kerala, India

ISSN 1434-9922 ISSN 1860-0808 (electronic)

Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing
ISBN 978-3-031-23107-0 ISBN 978-3-031-23108-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23108-7

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2023
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse
of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and
transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar
or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or
the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any
errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
John N. Mordeson would like to dedicate the
book to his wonderful wife Pat.
Sunil Mathew would like to dedicate the
book to Prof. John N. Mordeson, Professor
Emeritus, Creighton University, who
motivated and inspired many.
G. Gayathri would like to dedicate the book to
her father M. Gangadharan, mother Sarasu
Gangadharan, and husband Pratheesh K.
Preface I

Human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar criminal industry that denies freedom to

nearly 25 million people around the world. The importance of many topics in the
book is to help the reader understand the magnitude and complexity of the problem.
Accurate data concerning the flow of trafficking in persons is impossible to obtain
due to the very nature of the problem. The goal of the trafficker is to be undetected.
The size of the problem also makes it very difficult to obtain accurate data. There
are many other reasons for the scarcity of data. Among the most important are the
victims’ reluctance to report crimes or testify for fear of reprisals, disincentives,
both structural and legal, for law enforcement to act against traffickers, a lack of
harmony among existing data sources, and an unwillingness of some countries and
agencies to share data. Due to the lack of accurate data, the concepts of mathematics
of uncertainty provide a valuable way to study the problems of human trafficking
and illegal immigration.
The notions of vulnerability of countries and the government response of these
countries have been used to determine the susceptibility of the routes to trafficking.
The vulnerability and government response data of countries has been made available
by various studies. However, none of these studies involved the amount of flow from
country to country.
The flow of trafficking from country to country or region to region can be modeled
by the use of directed graphs. These graphs can contain source countries, destination
countries, and transit countries. They may contain cycles and feedback loops, for
example, immigrants being returned to a preceding country. One method of assigning
a flow from one country to another has been introduced in a particular study. The
flow was reported in linguistic terms, namely (very) low, medium, (very) and high.
The terms assigned were determined by the number of times flow between countries
was reported by certain sources. It is well-known that the use of fuzzy logic is an
ideal way to model situations described linguistically. Because of the complexity of
a directed graph used to model trafficking and because of the lack of accurate data
to measure the flow, fuzzy graphs provide an ideal method of modeling trafficking
of persons and illegal immigration.

vii
viii Preface I

Knowing the structure of a fuzzy-directed graph can be used in many ways to deal
with the flow. One way is to determine countries that could be targeted for the purpose
of reducing the flow. Another way would be to determine the countries that could be
targeted to increase their government response or decrease their vulnerability.
In a world experiencing climate change, past assumptions about the weather no
longer hold true. Climate data may be available, but it is often hard to find, understand,
and apply to decision making. Climate scientists around the world are contributing
to simulation models of the future climate. Their aim is to produce critical informa-
tion to assist decision-makers struggling to effectively plan for the future, but much
of their output remains beyond the understanding of end-users and thus cannot be
integrated into policies. Thus due to the lack of precise data available, techniques
from mathematics of uncertainty may be useful. To overcome the challenges faced
by climate change, cooperation among various agencies, companies, and scholars is
needed. Techniques from mathematics of uncertainty may be helpful.
In the fuzzy graph theory part of the book, the relatively new concepts of fuzzy
soft semigraphs and graph structures are used to study human trafficking, as well as
is time intuitionistic fuzzy sets that have been introduced to model forest fires. The
notion of legal and illegal incidence strength is used to analyze immigration to the
USA. The examination of return refugees to their origin countries is undertaken. The
neighborhood connectivity index is determined for trafficking in various regions of
the world. The cycle connectivity measure for the directed graph of the flow from
South America to the USA is calculated. It is determined that there is a need for
improvement in government response by countries.
Outside the area of fuzzy graph theory, a new approach to examine climate change
is introduced. Social network theory is used to study feedback processes that affect
climate forcing. Tipping points in climate change are considered. The relationship
between terrorism and climate change is examined. Ethical issues concerning the
obligation of business organizations to reduce carbon emissions are also considered.
Nonstandard analysis is a possible new area that could be used by scholars of
mathematics of uncertainty. A foundation is laid to aid the researcher in the under-
standing of nonstandard analysis. In order to accomplish this, a discussion of some
basic concepts from first-order logic is presented as some concepts of mathematics
of uncertainty. An application to the theory of relativity is presented.

Omaha, USA John N. Mordeson

Calicut, India Sunil Mathew
Calicut, India G. Gayathri
Preface II

Climate change increases the risk of natural disasters and thus creates poverty and can
cause situations of conflict and instability. Displacement can occur giving traffickers
an opportunity to exploit affected people. In this book, we examine some issues
involving climate change, human trafficking, and other serious world challenges
made worse by climate change.
Chapter 1 discusses some of the basic material required for the development of
this book, especially for the smooth reading of Chaps. 6–10. Fundamental definitions
and results from fuzzy sets, fuzzy relations, fuzzy graphs, and fuzzy incidence graphs
are presented.
In Chap. 2, we lay a foundation for a new research area in fuzzy mathematics,
namely nonstandard analysis. In order for a scholar to fully understand nonstandard
analysis, an understanding of order first logic is necessary. Consequently, we begin
this chapter with a discussion of first-order logic and a proof of the transfer principle.
We follow this by proving some of the basic results of nonstandard analysis. We then
introduce some concepts of mathematics of uncertainty to nonstandard analysis. The
chapter is concluded by using concepts of mathematics of uncertainty to the theory
of relativity.
In Chap. 3, we introduce a new approach by introducing methods from social
network theory to model feedback processes in climate change. Feedback processes
amplify or diminish the effect of each climate forcing, i.e., a change which may
push the climate system in the direction of warming or cooling. We also consider the
opinion that global climate change is an ethical issue. In particular, we consider issues
concerning the obligation of business organizations in reducing carbon emissions.
The world faces very serious challenges, namely human trafficking, human
slavery, terrorism, and global poverty to name only a few. However, climate change
may be the most serious of all. Climate change causes poverty which makes all the
other challenges worse. Even more important than this, climate change could make
the planet uninhabitable if governments don’t meet certain guidelines. In Chap. 4,
we determine the similarity of country rankings of countries with respect a country’s
vulnerability ranking by the ND-Gain Scores and the ranking of countries concerning

ix
x Preface II

climate risk of Fragile Planet. We conclude the chapter by finding the similarity of
country rankings with respect to global terror, global peace, and climate risk.
In Chap. 5, we use the notion of a time intuitionistic fuzzy set first introduced to
model forest fires in order to apply these ideas to study human trafficking. We also use
soft set theory to study problems concerning human trafficking by introducing soft
set theory to fuzzy semigraphs and graph structures. The social progress index ranks
countries with respect to their providing the social and environmental needs of their
citizens. The fragile states index ranks countries with respect to their vulnerability
to conflict or collapse. Freedom of the world ranks countries with respect to certain
categories dealing with issues concerning freedom. We determine the similarity of
these rankings.
Chapter 6 focuses on a new development in fuzzy graph theory called directed
fuzzy incidence graphs, abbreviated as DFIG. This new model is very effective in
dealing with networks influenced by external parameters. Concepts like legal flow
and illegal flow are discussed in detail with a hint to the study of human trafficking.
Modern networks like Internet and big highway systems can be modeled using this
concept. Legal flow enhancing and illegal flow reduction techniques are discussed
using different nodes, arcs and pairs of the network. An application related to the
migration of people from different parts of the globe to the USA is also provided.
The most important problem of networking theory is the enhancement of effective
flow from one node to another. Chapter 7 concentrates on results and discussions
to improve flow in directed fuzzy incidence networks (DFIN). Concepts like effec-
tive flow and maximum flow are discussed. Flow enhancement and saturation are
other major topics considered. A DFIN version of max-flow min-cut theorem also is
presented.
Chapter 8 mainly deals with two new parameters associated with fuzzy graphs
termed as cycle connectivity and cycle cogency. Reachability is the most desired
quality of any network. If two nodes are reachable in two different directions, they
are said to be cyclically reachable. Cyclic reachability is the theme of Chap. 8. Several
different types of graphs are also investigated. Concepts like cyclically balanced and
cyclically fair fuzzy graphs are also discussed. The problem of return of refugees is
discussed as the application part.
In Chap. 9, a fuzzy graph parameter named as neighborhood connectivity index
(NCI) is discussed. It is effective in dealing with the local imbalance problems of
a network. NCI of different types of products of fuzzy graphs is also presented. A
human trafficking-related application dealing with illegal flow of humans between
different locations of the globe is also studied.
The final chapter deals with cyclic connectivity index and integrity index of fuzzy
graphs. These graph parameters reflect the cyclic reachability and average cyclic
reachability of the fuzzy graph. Algorithms for the computation of the indices are
provided. A new sequence termed as cyclic status sequence connecting graph space
to sequence space is studied. Applications in human trafficking and Internet are also
discussed.
Preface II xi

The authors are grateful to all those who have been directly or indirectly involved
in this project. We hope that this work will be beneficial to both students and scientists.

Omaha, USA John N. Mordeson

Calicut, India Sunil Mathew
Calicut, India G. Gayathri

Acknowledgments The authors are grateful to the editorial board and production staffs of Springer
International Publishing, especially to Janusz Kacprzyk. The authors are indebted to journals of
Fuzzy Sets and Systems, Information Sciences, IEEE Transaction on Fuzzy systems, Iranian Journal
of Fuzzy Systems and New Mathematics and Natural Computation.
Contents

1 Preliminaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Fuzzy Sets and Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Fuzzy Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 Fuzzy Incidence Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2 Nonstandard Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1 First Order Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.2 Ultrafilters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.3 Structure of Ultraproducts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.4 Hyperreals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.5 Fuzzy Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
2.6 Continuity and Differentiability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.7 Relativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.8 The Nonstandard Interval ]− 0, 1+ [ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.9 Nonstandard Fuzzy Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3 Social Networks and Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.1 Feedback in the Climate System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.2 Tipping Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.3 Social Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.4 Positive Feedback Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.5 General Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.6 Impacts on Humans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.7 Business, Ethics, and Global Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.8 Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

xiii
xiv Contents

4 Climate Change and Consequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

4.1 Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.2 Terrorism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
5 Fuzzy Soft Semigraphs and Graph Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5.1 Fuzzy Soft Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5.2 Semigraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5.3 Soft Semigraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5.4 Fuzzy Soft Semigraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
5.5 Soft Fuzzy Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.6 Fuzzy Semigraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5.7 Generalized Graph Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
5.8 Fuzzy Graph Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
5.9 Fuzzy Incidence Graph Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6 Directed Fuzzy Incidence Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
6.1 Directed Fuzzy Incidence Graphs (DFIG) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
6.2 Application of DFIG in the Migration of Refugees . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
7 Max-flow Min-cut Theorem for Directed Fuzzy Incidence
Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
7.1 Directed Fuzzy Incidence Networks and Legal Flows . . . . . . . . . . 161
7.2 Algorithm to Find a Maximum Legal Flow in a DFIN . . . . . . . . . 174
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
8 Cycle Connectivity of Fuzzy Graphs with Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
8.1 Cycle Connectivity of Fuzzy Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
8.2 Cyclically Balanced and Cyclically Fair Fuzzy Graphs . . . . . . . . . 186
8.3 Cycle Cogency of Fuzzy Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
8.4 Application to Human Trafficking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
9 Neighborhood Connectivity in Fuzzy Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
9.1 Neighborhood Connectivity Index of Fuzzy Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . 213
9.2 Fuzzy Graph Operations and Neighborhood Connectivity
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
9.3 Algorithm to Compute NCI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
9.4 Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
10 Cyclic Connectivity Status and Integrity Index of Fuzzy
Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
10.1 Cyclic Connectivity Status of Fuzzy Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
10.2 CC S Analysis for Fuzzy Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
10.3 Cyclic Status Sequence of a Fuzzy Graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
Contents xv

10.4 Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

10.5 Integrity Index of Fuzzy Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
10.6 Integrity Analysis of Vertices in a Fuzzy Graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
10.7 Applications to Human Trafficking and Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
10.7.1 Application to Human Trafficking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
10.7.2 Application to Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
About the Authors

Dr. John N. Mordeson is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Creighton Univer-

sity. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from Iowa State University. He is a member
of Phi Kappa Phi. He has published 20 books and over 200 journal articles. He is on
the editorial board of numerous journals. He has served as an external examiner of
Ph.D. candidates from India, South Africa, Bulgaria, and Pakistan. He has referred
for numerous journals and granting agencies. He is particularly interested in applying
mathematics of uncertainty to combat the problem of human trafficking.

Dr. Sunil Mathew is a faculty member in the Department of Mathematics, NIT

Calicut, India. He has acquired his master’s from St. Joseph’s College Devagiri,
Calicut, and Ph.D. from the National Institute of Technology Calicut in the area of
fuzzy graph theory. He has published more than 120 research papers and written 10
books. He is a member of several academic bodies and associations. He is an editor
and reviewer of several international journals. He has an experience of 20 years
in teaching and research. His current research topics include fuzzy graph theory,
bio-computational modeling, graph theory, fractal geometry, and chaos.

Ms. G. Gayathri is currently pursuing research in the Department of Mathematics,

National Institute of Technology Calicut, India. She took her master’s degree in
Mathematics from Government College Kasaragod, Kasaragod. She has got several
publications in prestigious journals.

xvii
Chapter 1
Preliminaries

1.1 Fuzzy Sets and Relations

This section covers the fundamentals of fuzzy sets and fuzzy relations. In 1965,
Lotfy Zadeh [1] introduced the concept of fuzzy sets using fuzzy logic to address
the problems of ambiguity and vagueness. Fuzzy set theory facilitates the inclusion
of elements in a set with partial memberships ranging from 0 to 1, which is not
allowed in classical set theory. Throughout this book, we use Ac or X \ A to denote
the complement of a subset A of a set X. We denote the cardinality of A by |A|. We
denote infimum and supremum by ∧ and ∨, respectively. Most of the contents of
this section are taken from [2].
Definition 1.1.1 Let X be a set. A fuzzy subset σ of X is a function σ : X → [0, 1].
In the literature, different notations for a fuzzy set are used. We follow the notation
σ given by Zadeh [1]. If there is no confusion about X, the term fuzzy subset can be
simply replaced by fuzzy set.
Consider a fuzzy set σ. Let σ ∗ denote the support of σ, defined by {x ∈ X :
σ (x) > 0}. For any t ∈ [0, 1], a crisp set called the t-cut of σ can be defined as
{x ∈ X : σ (x) ≥ t}. If {x ∈ X : σ (x) > t}, then it is a strong t-cut. Clearly, support
of a fuzzy set is a strong 0-cut. A 1−cut is known as the core of the fuzzy set. The
height h(σ ) and depth d(σ ) of σ can be defined as h(σ ) = ∨{σ (x) : x ∈ X } and
d(σ ) = ∧{σ (x) : x ∈ X }, respectively. If h(σ ) = 1, then the fuzzy set σ is normal
and subnormal otherwise.
Example 1.1.2 Consider Fig. 1.1, which shows a trapezoidal fuzzy set σ defined on
R. Its membership function is defined by
⎧
⎪
⎪0 if x ≤ a
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ x−a
if a ≤ x ≤ b
⎨ b−a
σ (x) = 1 if b ≤ x ≤ c
⎪
⎪
⎪ d−x
⎪ if c ≤ x ≤ d
⎪
⎪ d−c
⎩0 otherwise.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 1
J. N. Mordeson et al., Fuzzy Graph Theory, Studies in Fuzziness and Soft
Computing 424, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23108-7_1
2 1 Preliminaries

Fig. 1.1 A trapezoidal fuzzy

set

a b c d

Note that, σ is a normal fuzzy set with σ ∗ = (a, d).

Next, we move onto some set theoretical operations on fuzzy sets. If σ and μ are
two fuzzy subsets of a set X, then μ ⊆ ν if for all x ∈ X, μ(x) ≤ ν(x). If μ ⊆ ν
and there exists x ∈ X such that μ(x) < ν(x), we write μ ⊂ ν. We define μ ∩ ν as
(μ ∩ ν)(x) = μ(x) ∧ ν(x) for all x ∈ X . We define μ ∪ ν as (μ ∪ ν)(x) = μ(x) ∨
ν(x) for all x ∈ X.

Definition 1.1.3 A function η : [0, 1] × [0, 1] → [0, 1] is called a t-norm if it sat-

isfies the following conditions.
(1) η(1, x) = x, ∀x ∈ [0, 1] (Identity element).
(2) η(x, y) = η(y, x), ∀x, y ∈ [0, 1] (Commutativity).
(3) η(x, η(y, z)) = η(η(x, y), z), ∀x, y, z ∈ [0, 1] (Associativity).
(4) w ≤ x and y ≤ z implies η(w, y) ≤ η(x, z), ∀w, x, y, z ∈ [0, 1] (Monotonic-
ity).
There are several classes of t-norms depending on the nature of the function η. For
example, a continuous η is called a continuous t-norm. A strictly monotonic and
continuous η is called a strict t-norm.

Example 1.1.4 The following are examples of t-norms.


x ∧ y if x ∨ y = 1,
(1) Drastic t-norm: η(x, y) =
0 otherwise.
(2) Lukasiewicz t-norm: η(x, y) = 0 ∨ (x + y − 1).
xy
(3) η(x, y) = 2−(x+y−x y)
.
(4) Product t-norm: η(x, y) = x y.
(5) Minimum t-norm: η(x, y) = x ∧ y.
The t-norm defined in (5) is known as the standard intersection for fuzzy sets.
Also, among all t-norms, drastic t-norm is the smallest and minimum t-norm is the
largest.
1.1 Fuzzy Sets and Relations 3

Definition 1.1.5 A function ζ : [0, 1] × [0, 1] → [0, 1] is called a t-conorm if it

satisfies the following conditions.
(1) ζ (0, x) = x, ∀x ∈ [0, 1] (Identity element).
(2) ζ (x, y) = ζ (y, x), ∀x, y ∈ [0, 1] (Commutativity).
(3) ζ (x, ζ (y, z)) = ζ (ζ (x, y), z), ∀x, y, z ∈ [0, 1] (Associativity).
(4) w ≤ x and y ≤ z implies ζ (w, y) ≤ ζ (x, z), ∀w, x, y, z ∈ [0, 1] (Monotonic-
ity).
Example 1.1.6 The following are examples of t-conorms.
(1) Standard union: ζ (x, y) = x ∨ y.
(2) Algebraic sum: ζ (x, y) = x + y − x y.
(3) Bounded sum: ζ (x, y) = ⎧ 1 ∧ (x + y).
⎨ x if y = 0,
(4) Drastic union: ζ (x, y) = y if x = 0,
⎩
1 otherwise.
Now, we define the concept of complement as follows.
Definition 1.1.7 A function c : [0, 1] → [0, 1] is called a fuzzy complement if the
following conditions hold.
(1) c(0) = 1 and c(1) = 0 (Boundary conditions).
(2) ∀x, y ∈ [0, 1], x ≤ y implies c(x) ≥ c(y) (Monotonicity).
Two desirable properties for a fuzzy complement c are continuity and be involutive.
By involutive nature, we mean c(c(x)) = x ∀x ∈ [0, 1]. Standard complement is an
example of an involutive fuzzy complement. That is, c(x) = 1 − x for all x ∈ [0, 1].
Now recall that a relation on a set S is a subset of S × S. We can extend this
concept into fuzzy relation on a set S as a fuzzy subset of S × S. Consider the
following definition of fuzzy relation on a fuzzy set.
Definition 1.1.8 Let σ be a fuzzy subset of a set S and μ, a fuzzy relation on S. μ
is called a fuzzy relation on σ if μ(x, y) ≤ σ (x) ∧ σ (y) for every x, y ∈ S.
Definition 1.1.9 If S and T are two sets and σ and τ are fuzzy subsets of S and T ,
respectively, then a fuzzy relation μ from the fuzzy subset σ into the fuzzy subset τ
is a fuzzy subset μ of S × T such that μ(x, y) ≤ σ (x) ∧ τ (y) for every x ∈ S and
y ∈ T.
Definition 1.1.10 Let μ : S × T → [0, 1] be a fuzzy relation from a fuzzy subset
σ of S into a fuzzy subset τ of T and ν : T × U → [0, 1] be a fuzzy relation from
the fuzzy subset ρ of T into a fuzzy subset η of U . Define μ ◦ ν : S × U → [0, 1]
by μ ◦ ν(x, z) = ∨{μ(x, y) ∧ ν(y, z) : y ∈ T } for every x ∈ S, z ∈ U. Then μ ◦ ν
is called the max-min composition of μ and ν.
Note that, whenever μ and ν are two fuzzy relations on a fuzzy set σ, then μ ◦ ν
is also a fuzzy relation on σ. Clearly, the max-min composition μ ◦ μ is a fuzzy
relation on σ . It is denoted as μ2 . For any two fuzzy relations μ and ν on a finite set
S and any t ∈ [0, 1], (μ ◦ ν)t = μt ◦ ν t .
4 1 Preliminaries

Definition 1.1.11 If μ is a fuzzy relation defined on a fuzzy subset σ of a set S, then

the complement μc of μ is defined as μc (x, y) = 1 − μ(x, y) for every x, y ∈ S.

Definition 1.1.12 Let μ : S × T → [0, 1] be a fuzzy relation from a fuzzy subset σ

of S into a fuzzy subset ν of T . Then μ−1 : T × S → [0, 1], the inverse of μ from
ν into σ is defined as μ−1 (y, x) = μ(x, y) for all x, y ∈ T × S.
If μ is a fuzzy relation on a fuzzy set σ , defined over S, then μ is said to be reflexive
if μ(x, x) = σ (x) for every x ∈ S. μ is said to be symmetric if μ(x, y) = μ(y, x)
for every x, y ∈ S and transitive if μ2 ⊆ μ. A fuzzy relation μ on a fuzzy subset σ
of a set S is said to be a fuzzy equivalence relation if it is reflexive, symmetric and
transitive.

1.2 Fuzzy Graphs

Fuzzy graphs are mathematical structures that help to overcome the inadequacy
of graphs to portray many real-world problems. Kaufmann [3] proposed the basic
definition of a fuzzy graph in 1973 using fuzzy relations on fuzzy sets. Rosenfeld
[4] further developed it by defining several fuzzy graph parameters. Several authors
made significant contributions to the theoretical development of fuzzy graph theory.
Most of the basic results on fuzzy graphs are included from [2]. Because of the wide
range of applications in science and technology, fuzzy graph theory has become a
dominant area of research in mathematics.
For a set V, consider a subset E of its power set such that every set in E has
exactly two elements. Simply we write zw for {z, w} ∈ E. Clearly zw = wz.

Definition 1.2.1 A fuzzy graph G = (V, σ, μ) is a triple consisting of a set V , a

fuzzy set σ on V and a fuzzy set μ on E such that μ(zw) ≤ σ (z) ∧ σ (w) for every
z, w ∈ V.
From the above definition, it is clear that μ is a fuzzy relation on V. Unless
otherwise mentioned, we assume V is finite, and μ is reflexive and symmetric.
We let G ∗ = (σ ∗ , μ∗ ) to denote the underlying graph of G where σ ∗ = {z ∈ V :
σ (z) > 0} and μ∗ = {zw ∈ E : μ(zw) > 0}. A fuzzy graph G = (V, σ, μ) is trivial
when G ∗ is trivial. The members of σ ∗ are known as the vertices and the members
of μ∗ are known as the edges of the fuzzy graph. If the set V is well defined, we use
the abbreviations G or (σ, μ) or G = (σ, μ) to denote a fuzzy graph.

Definition 1.2.2 A fuzzy graph H = (V, τ, ν) is called a partial fuzzy subgraph of

G = (V, σ, μ) if τ (u) ≤ σ (u) for every vertex u ∈ σ ∗ and ν(uv) ≤ μ(uv) for every
uv ∈ μ∗ . In particular, we call H = (V, τ, ν), a fuzzy subgraph of G = (V, σ, μ)
if τ (u) = σ (u) for every u ∈ τ ∗ and ν(uv) = μ(uv) for every uv ∈ ν ∗ . A fuzzy
subgraph H = (V, τ, ν) is said to span the fuzzy graph G = (V, σ, μ) if τ = σ .
The fuzzy graph H = (V, τ, ν) is called a fuzzy subgraph of G induced by P if
P ⊂ σ ∗ , τ (u) = σ (u) for all u in P and ν(uv) = μ(uv) for every u, v ∈ P.
1.2 Fuzzy Graphs 5

Fig. 1.2 a Fuzzy graph G in a (w, 0.7) 0.7 (z, 0.8)

Example 1.2.5. b Partial
fuzzy subgraph G 1 and
fuzzy subgraph G 2 of G
0.5 0.6

(x, 1) 0.6 (y, 0.7)

b
(w, 0.6) 0.6 (z, 0.8) (w, 0.7) 0.7 (z, 0.8)

0.4 0.5 0.6

(x, 0.9) 0.5 (y, 0.6) (x, 1) 0.6 (y, 0.7)

For a fuzzy graph G, and every t ∈ [0, 1], we can define an associated graph,
called the threshold graph of G corresponding to t.

Definition 1.2.3 Let G = (σ, μ) be a fuzzy graph and let 0 ≤ t ≤ 1. Let σ t = {x ∈

σ ∗ : σ (x) ≥ t} and μt = {e ∈ μ∗ : μ(e) ≥ t}. Then H = (σ t , μt ) is a graph with
vertex set σ t and edge set μt , called the threshold graph of G corresponding to t.

Proposition 1.2.4 Let G = (σ, μ) be a fuzzy graph and 0 ≤ s < t ≤ 1. Then the
threshold graph (σ t , μt ) is a subgraph of (σ s , μs ).

Example 1.2.5 Let Fig. 1.2(a) illustrates a fuzzy graph G = (σ, μ) with σ ∗ =
{x, y, z, w} and μ∗ = {x y, yz, zw, yw}. A partial fuzzy subgraph G 1 and a fuzzy
subgraph G 2 of G are given in Fig. 1.2b. The fuzzy subgraph induced by the subset
P = {y, z, w} of σ ∗ and the threshold graph of G corresponding to t = 0.7 are given
in Fig. 1.3.
Consider G 1 given in Fig. 1.2b. It is a partial fuzzy subgraph of G, because τ (z) =
σ (z) and τ (a) < σ (a) for all other vertices a ∈ σ ∗ . Also, ν(e) < μ(e) for all edges
e ∈ μ∗ . If we consider G 2 , then it is a fuzzy subgraph of G. Because, for every
vertex a ∈ τ ∗ , τ (a) = σ (a) and for every edge in ν ∗ , ν(e) = μ(e). Here, G 2 is also
a partial fuzzy subgraph of G. But, G 1 is not a fuzzy subgraph of G. Moreover, both
G 1 and G 2 span G as τ ∗ = σ ∗ .
Let P = {y, z, w}. Then G 3 of Fig. 1.3 is the fuzzy subgraph induced by P. For
G 4 given in Fig. 1.3, σ 0.7 = {x, y, z, w} and μ0.7 = {wz}. Here, G 4 = (σ 0.7 , μ0.7 ) is
the threshold graph of G corresponding to t = 0.7.

We let G − e to denote the edge deleted fuzzy graph of G = (σ, μ) obtained

by deleting an edge e ∈ μ∗ from G. It is defined by the fuzzy subgraph H = (τ, ν)
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 "Yes, already!" said Robespierre.

And he told them all about their walk through the strange crowd, so
lively and so full of enthusiasm, turning now and then to Cornélie for
corroboration. But Cornélie wore an absent air, replying only in
monosyllables, for she had just learnt that her dress had not yet arrived;
though she took some comfort on hearing that her sisters were in no better
plight.

Mother Duplay, with arms akimbo, lingered to listen with enraptured

interest to Robespierre's narrative.

"I said as much to Duplay! It will be a triumph."

Duplay here interrupted her.

"Well, are we to have supper to-night?"

"You may well ask, but when Maximilien talks I forget everything."

Then taking up her basket of salad, she called Victoire to help her. They
used to dine out of doors when the weather was fine; the table was already
there, and had only to be laid. Ah! that fête—how it turned everybody's
head! Mother Duplay was certainly late, to her great discomfiture. Yes, she
was late—she, the pink of punctuality.

"And the chicken will be burnt to a cinder!"

She ran to the kitchen, on the ground floor, next to the dining room, and
found her youngest daughter, Madame Lebas, already there.

"I thought of it, mamma!" she said.

The chicken, nicely cooked to a golden brown, swimming in gravy, was

ready to be served.

"Now then! Let us make haste!" said Madame Duplay, highly amused at
being caught by her daughter. "Strain the soup while I prepare the salad.
Oh, Victoire, we haven't laid the cloth yet!"
 With the Duplays, it was a long-established custom that everything
connected with the kitchen or the table should be entrusted only to the
family; the maid washed up when the meal was over. Perhaps this was an
excess of prudence, or a fear of poison. Whatever the motive was,
Robespierre highly approved the practice.

"It is well to know what one is eating," he would often say.

The two girls and Madame Lebas took it in turns to wait at table, and so
they could all speak freely, without being restrained by the presence of the
servant.

The soup was now served up, steaming hot, and Madame Lebas was
ladling it out in equal portions, reserving the last, as the hottest, for
Robespierre.

"To table! To table!" she cried, placing chairs for every one.

But Robespierre and Duplay did not move. They were deeply interested
in something Lebas was telling them. Duplay's son-in-law had just returned
from the Tuileries, where he had gone "to feel the pulse of the Convention,"
as he expressed it. The National Assembly, although undermined by some
evil-minded members, would be excellently represented at the fête on the
morrow. The abominable rogues who had charged Robespierre with
intending to turn this popular manifestation to his own profit had been
disappointed—an appropriate reward for their drivelling calumny! No one
attached the slightest importance to their scandalous reports. The
Convention, as well as the people, were with Robespierre. Only the
Committee of Public Safety...

"But, I say, children, the soup will be cold," Madame Duplay called out
in desperation.

Simon the wooden-legged came down from his room, declaring that he
was famished.

"Here we are! Here we are!" the three men exclaimed, taking their seats.
 Robespierre had made a sign to Lebas to change the conversation on
account of the women. Then significantly shrugging his shoulders, he
whispered to him—

"The Committee of Public Safety? Well, I shall be ready for them!"

At table Robespierre, who was seated between Monsieur and Madame

Duplay, hardly tasted his soup.

"The soup doesn't please you, friend?"

"Oh yes! Very good! Excellent!"

Victoire cleared away the soup plates as slowly as possible, waiting for
Robespierre. When he had finished, she said—

"That is right, bon ami. You know you have to keep up your strength for
to-morrow."

Madame Lebas now returned from the kitchen with the capon, and was
greeted by a general murmur of admiration.

"Splendid!" cried Simon Duplay, who was a bit of a gourmand.

"To-morrow, children, you shall have duck, duck and turnips!" said
Madame Duplay, much gratified, as she set to work to carve the fowl,
giving Robespierre the white meat, which he took mechanically, deep in
thought. Lebas told them that he had seen Fouquier-Tinville, the Public
Prosecutor, who was returning from the Bastille, where he had been to
inspect the new installation.

"Ah, yes! the guillotine!" interposed mother Duplay, continuing to

carve. "But it didn't work to-day, did it?"

"It will not work to-morrow either," said Robespierre, "but the day after
to-morrow ..."

"Will you allude to it in your discourse, bon ami?"

 "Yes, towards the end; for it is well that the aristocrats should know that
we are not disarming."

"Decidedly," chimed in Duplay, "that would be too stupid."

Robespierre, warmed by the tone of the conversation, recovered his

appetite.

"At all events," he said, "the fête to-morrow will be a warning for every
one; for the aristocrats, as well as for many a Judas of the party."

He stopped to express his appreciation of the fowl, sending up his plate

for more.

"A leg, or a wing?" asked mother Duplay, delighted.

Robespierre suddenly turned round. He had heard a noise.

"I am sure the front door has just been opened," he said.

Simon Duplay took out a match to light a lamp, and young Maurice
rose, looking out into the dark.

"It's true," he said; "it's a woman with a large parcel."

"Our dresses, surely!" exclaimed Cornélie, who had been somewhat

morose and silent until then.

"Yes, our dresses," cried Madame Lebas and Victoire expectantly.

It was, after all, only the dresses, which the dressmaker had at last
brought. The enormous box was handled by them eagerly; they wished to
open it there and then. However, Victoire, prudently fearing to soil the
contents, carried it into the dining-room, followed by her sisters.

The conversation was resumed with lively interest by the light of the
lamp just lit, and opinions were freely expressed that as Royalty had her
fêtes, the world would now see what a Republican fête could be like. It
would be truly national, imposing, and symbolical.
 The young women had not yet returned.

"Hullo! you children! what are you doing there?" called out old Duplay.

"Here we are! Here we are!" answered Victoire, appearing that moment

on the threshold of the dining-room in a pretty white dress, coquettishly
pushing back her hair, disordered by her hasty toilet.

"Doesn't it suit me?" she said. "Oh! don't look at my hair; it isn't
arranged," and she ran down the steps followed by Madame Lebas and
Cornélie, also arrayed in their new finery.

Mother Duplay scolded her daughters.

"What! You dressed yourselves in the dining-room? Why, it is positively

improper! Isn't it, Maximilien?"

Robespierre smiled.

"Let them alone, bonne mère. It's not fête every day!"

And he looked at the dresses, pronouncing them charming, and in

perfect taste.

Madame Lebas was in blue, Victoire in white, and Cornélie in red.

"The three colours!" observed the boy Maurice.

"We wanted to give you a surprise," said Cornélie, advancing towards

Robespierre.

"Nothing could have given me more pleasure," he replied. "That is what

I call true patriotism."

The noise of hurrying feet, the sound of voices and music, the hum of
Paris in the distance preparing for the coming fête centered through the
open window. Fireworks burst in mid-air, then suddenly seemed to radiate
in a blaze of glory.
 "Oh, look!" exclaimed the boy Maurice, as showers of golden fire fell in
a cascade of light. Robespierre musingly watched their slow descent, which
to his overstrained imagination took the form of one huge halo of glory.

Robespierre was early up and dressed next morning, and he was

received by the Duplays in the courtyard with cries of surprise, for it was
scarcely nine o'clock. "What! dressed already! And we haven't
commenced!"

Robespierre told them he had hastened in order to be at the Tuileries in

time to superintend things a bit, and to arrange matters with his friends, that
there might be no hitch. People would talk so! The slightest thing might mar
the splendour of the manifestation, which would be a pity on such a
splendid day!

"The sky is naturally propitious for the fête of the Supreme Being," said
Victoire; "but you will have some breakfast, I suppose?"

"No, I shall breakfast over there."

They now surrounded him, retaining him to arrange the folds of his
cravat, or brush grains of powder from the revers of his coat, which they all
declared suited him to perfection. He received the compliment with visible
pleasure, as he had given himself no little trouble over his toilet for the
great occasion.

He wore a light blue coat, nankeen breeches buttoned above the knees,
where a stream of tri-colour ribbons was attached. White silk stockings and
buckled shoes completed the array of this real Republican dandy. He was
powdered of course, as usual, and had even indulged in an extra puff or so,
but his most extravagant conceit was displayed in the lace waistcoat which
spread like a filmy foam across his breast. The women went into ecstasies
over this, and declared his taste exquisite. As he was taking leave, Cornélie
appeared with an enormous bouquet of wild flowers and ears of corn in her
hand.

"And the bouquet?" she asked, giving it to him at the same time.
 "Ah! yes! I had forgotten it. How kind you are! Au revoir. I shall see
you by and by, looking your best, I am sure!"

And Robespierre, spick and span in his new clothes, all curled and
perfumed, picked his way daintily across the courtyard.

At the door he found Lebas, Simon the wooden-legged, and the boy
Maurice Duplay awaiting him. They wished to escort him to the Tuileries.
Didier, the agent, now came up, accompanied by two of his men, and they
all started in the direction of the Rue Saint-Honoré, keeping to the right.
The Incorruptible conversed with Lebas.

A breeze stirred the flowers that decorated the front of the houses,
wafting abroad their perfume. People were filling the streets from all
directions, all in festive attire, with palms and ears of corn in their hands.
On recognising the Incorruptible, they bowed to him; delighted, he
discreetly returned their salutations.

Robespierre had turned into the Passage des Feuillantes, and found
himself on the terrace. Here a surprise awaited him. The garden was
already, at that early hour, three-quarters full, looking like an immense sea
with wave upon wave of tricolour ribbons, plumes, and cockades. He
continued his way along the Terrace des Feuillantes, a smile on his lips,
returning the greetings as he went, and then joined the stream of people
moving towards the Tuileries, happy to lose himself in that crowd flocking
to his own apotheosis.

Flowers festooned the front of the Palace from end to end, lending to it
the freshness of spring-tide.

When Robespierre arrived he cast a hasty glance at the vast

amphitheatre which awaited the National Convention. It was still empty.
The amphitheatre extended from the gardens to the balcony of the Horloge,
from which projected a tribune, erected above the seats of the deputies—the
tribune of the President, his tribune. It was from there that he would speak
to the people, assembled to hear and to applaud him.
 Robespierre entered the Palace alone, Lebas and the two Duplays
having gone back to the Rue Saint-Honoré to fetch the family. Beaming
with expectation, the Incorruptible looked about in search of some familiar
faces, but he found none. He crossed the Convention Chamber to the offices
of the Committee of Public Safety, and questioned the men in charge, who
told him that only the members Barère, Collot d'Herbois, Prieur, and Carnot
had put in an appearance for a moment, and then had gone to breakfast at a
restaurant. As he crossed the Hall of Liberty he met Vilate, a fellow-
juryman of Duplay's on the Revolutionary Tribunal. Vilate was under an
obligation to Robespierre, who, in conjunction with Barère, had procured
for him a residence in the Palace at the Flora Pavilion. It was the surest way
of having a spy ready at hand, a reliable and silent witness of every act and
move of the Committee of Public Safety. Vilate, at once insinuating and
deferential, invited him to breakfast.

"It would be so convenient," he suggested, for he could breakfast, and

yet not lose the splendid spectacle of the crowd as seen from the first story.
Robespierre accepted the invitation, and remained for two hours there. Even
after Vilate had left him he stayed on, looking down on all the preparations,
lost in a day-dream of anticipated joy. He was nearing the supreme moment,
the popular moment, which would raise him so high above his colleagues
that henceforth any steps taken against him would be considered as directed
against the nation itself. He smiled. His dictatorship? Was it not imposed on
him by the French people? Was it not the outcome of the public will? It
would be presently called for by a hundred thousand voices in these very
gardens, in presence of all France, represented by the three hundred
deputies of the Convention. He remained in meditation, smiling still, his
forehead pressed against a pane of the window, his looks plunged in that
living sea swaying at his feet. If ever Robespierre was happy, it was at this
supreme moment.

Some one knocked.

"Come in!" he said, as if awakened from a dream.

It was Lebas, who, all out of breath, came to tell him that the
Convention was assembled, and only awaited his arrival.
 "Vilate sent me here. I was wondering where to find you."

Robespierre looked up in astonishment.

"It can't be very late," he said.

"Why, it is half-past twelve!"

"Half-past twelve?"

The fête had been fixed for noon. He was then half an hour behind time!
And the ironical smiles of some of his colleagues when he appeared in the
tribune were not the least bitter consequences of his unpunctuality.

A voice was heard saying—

"He has at last decided to put in an appearance!"

And then another—

"He hasn't even the courtesy of kings, yet he has enough of their
insolence!"

Robespierre recognised the voice.

It was Barère's. Drops of gall were already falling into his cup of joy.
But as the people began to applaud at the lower end of the gardens,
Robespierre advanced to the edge of the tribune, and bowed. The expectant
crowd swayed as one man towards him, unwilling to lose a single gesture or
a single word. So stood the Incorruptible, enwrapped and penetrated by the
inebriating vapours of adulation and the perfume of all the palms and
bouquets that rose as incense at his feet.

But again a discordant note was touched, and another voice was heard
—

"See how like a throne the tribune stands!"

 And in fact, set high above the steps, it did seem raised on a pedestal.
Robespierre felt this as in some embarrassment he unfolded his manuscript,
and commenced. His voice was almost inaudible, except to the members of
the Convention seated near him. Passages on which he counted most passed
unheeded, and he felt the encouragement of his friends to be indiscriminate
and misplaced, like that of some theatre claque.

When he had finished he was greeted with considerable applause, that

was more formal than genuine; it mounted from the gardens and reached
him, mingled with the strains of Gossec's hymn, just started by the Opera
choir. Robespierre left the tribune dissatisfied with himself, but convinced
that his address to the people on the Place de la Révolution, from the altar
of flowers erected at the foot of the statue of Liberty, would retrieve this
first failure. There he would be in direct contact with people, and then they
would see! For he felt the people were with him; their acclamation coming
up to him from the gardens was proof enough.

He descended the steps, followed by the Convention, and went towards

the first fountain on the lawn, from which rose an allegorical group,
representing Atheism surrounded by the Vices, led by Folly, while Wisdom,
standing apart, pointed a warning finger at the group. He was to set a match
to this ingenious specimen of artistic pyrotechny, when Atheism was
supposed to disappear, dragged down by Folly and the Vices, leaving
Wisdom alone, radiantly triumphant. But it was the very opposite that
happened. Wisdom caught fire and upset the whole arrangement, provoking
disrespectful laughter among the deputies.

Robespierre turned pale. The fête had certainly not opened auspiciously.
Then, in spite of himself, an instinctive and uncontrollable desire to lean on
some one, which always took possession of him in hours of suffering,
mastered him. As he looked round in search of a sympathising glance, his
eyes fell on a fair, rosy child, in its young mother's arms, trying to play with
bouquets of corn and wild flowers which its mother kept from him.
Robespierre recognised the bouquet which in his excitement he had left on
the tribune, and which the young woman now held out to him. This delicate
attention fell on his parched soul like refreshing dew, and he gratefully
accepted the simple homage offered with such charming frankness.
 Robespierre now headed the procession, preceded by trumpets and
drums, followed by the Convention through the line of National Guards,
who kept back the curious crowd on either side of the garden, as the line
wound its way towards the swing-bridge which opened on to the Place de la
Révolution.

The deputies were all there, dressed in official garb: dark blue coat, red
collar and cuffs, tight-fitting knee breeches of doeskin, high boots, broad
tricolour sashes across the breast, fastened on the left shoulder, and tricolour
plumes in their hats. Each member carried in his hand a bouquet of flowers
and ears of corn.

Robespierre was conspicuous by the difference in his attire, which was

of a lighter blue. He walked well ahead of his colleagues, as if to accentuate
the distance between himself and them in the eyes of the crowd, who, with
keen curiosity, were climbing on stools, on ladders, on the bases of statues,
on gates, and even on the trees, to get a better view of him. Thus
Robespierre, whose serenity had now returned, advanced towards the Place
de la Révolution, where he knew that the greater mass of the people were
assembled to receive him with thunders of applause.

The sound of "Vivat! Vivat!" was heard in the distance, accompanied by

the roll of the Champ-de-Mars cannon, which fired a resounding salute at
regular intervals. Those vivas were welcoming on the Place de la
Révolution the cortège which had preceded Robespierre and the members
of the Convention; the delegates from the different sections of Paris, who
entered amidst the beat of drums and blare of brass instruments, headed by
a standard-bearer. The procession had no sooner reached the square than
they parted into two lines; on one side women and young girls, dressed in
white and crowned with roses; on the other, old men and youths, carrying
branches of oak and laurel. The crowd, kept back by a rope of tricolour
ribbons, received the procession with enthusiastic shouts, chanting with the
choirs the choruses of the Chant du Départ. To the passionate strains of
Mehul's national anthem succeeded soon after a hymn appropriate to the
occasion, Gossec's composition calling down the benediction of the
Supreme Being on France and on humanity.
 The people applauded, but stopped directly to welcome another group
of the Paris section, a company of young Republican warriors dressed in
blue and rose-colour, holding aloft lances decked with tricolour ribbons.
The greatest triumph of all, however, was the group symbolising the Four
Ages—Childhood, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age—represented by a
multitude of children, youths, maidens, men and women, both middle-aged
and old, some crowned with violets, others with myrtle, oak-leaves, olive-
branches, and vine-leaves. One unanimous cry of admiration rose from the
crowd and resounded through the immense square, where the sun fell in
burning rays on the silks, velvets, and brocades, playing in the gold fringe
of flags and banners, and on the many tricolour ribbons and streamers, in a
flood of dazzling light.

The excitement of the populace was now at its height, and, as the
members of the Convention appeared in sight, a cry rose suddenly—

"He is here!"

"Who?"

"Robespierre."

A tremor of curiosity ran through the crowd who, mad with excitement,
poured forth their welcome in a storm of enthusiastic cheers and plaudits,
even before their hero came in sight. A sheriff, then a delegate, then a
master of ceremonies, were by turns loudly cheered by the eager multitude,
who in their impatience had taken them for the Incorruptible. At last he
passed, smiling affably, hat in his hand, and the cry ran from mouth to
mouth—

"It is he! It is he!"

This time it was really Robespierre; there was no mistake. Hats, caps,
handkerchiefs, waved on all sides; women raised sprays of loses in the air
and men branches of palm.

This outburst threatened to break up the cortège of the Four Ages,

which, like the preceding one, had ranged itself round the statute of Liberty,
where Robespierre was to deliver his discourse. Children begged their
mothers to lift them up, that they might see also. At the same moment the
solemn chords of a harp floated on the air.

Robespierre advanced slowly, slackening his pace, for he had become

suddenly aware of the great distance which separated him from the
deputies, who filed into the square six abreast, grave and slow, like judges.
The different groups of the procession, who had arranged themselves in
regular lines, now unveiled the statute of Liberty, where an altar of flowers
and foliage had been erected. It was at this altar that Robespierre was to
officiate, and consecrate amidst the burning of incense the worship of the
Supreme Being.

The Incorruptible was now passing the very spot where on the previous
day the scaffold still stood. A woman in the crowd called attention to this in
all simplicity. But her voice was quickly drowned by a hundred harps,
whose dulcet music filled the air. All members of the Convention had
reached the Place de la Révolution, when a new cortège came in sight, the
chariot of Agriculture, draped in blue, covered with garlands of roses, and
drawn by a yoke of oxen with gilded horns. The goddess of Agriculture was
impersonated by a beautiful girl from the Opera, who smiled on the crowd
with her light blue eyes, looking the very incarnation of luxuriant youth, her
blonde beauty framed in ripe golden corn and fruits of the rich harvest.

Robespierre, now standing before the altar, was burning incense in a

golden tripod, amidst the mute reverence of the crowd, who behaved as if
assisting at some religious ceremony. Presently, descending the steps of the
altar, he turned to address the multitude.

All music had ceased, each voice was silenced, every whisper hushed;
even the cries of pedlars and street-hawkers were unheard. A hundred
thousand eyes were fixed on Robespierre, who, set up on high and wrapped
in clouds of incense, appeared to tower in stature, to dominate that mass of
human beings with all the force of a prevailing pride.

A sudden inspiration seized him: he would repeat the more notable

phrases of his former discourse, here, to that crowd whose mighty heart he
felt beating with his own; he would have his revenge, and hear his burning
words applauded by the nation itself! Ah! had the deputies been indifferent,
cold, hesitating in their applause? Well, they should receive a lesson that
would be at once a warning and a mandate! The delegates of the nation
should be censured publicly by the very nation they represented!

Robespierre had delivered the opening sentences of his speech. Carried

away by the enthusiastic ovation of the crowd, now entirely master of
himself and of his discourse, his words flowed freely and abundantly, and
he declaimed without once referring to his notes, in a clear, penetrating
voice. Every point was greeted with a thunder of applause as he spoke on,
stimulated by a glow of satisfaction which touched the most secret fibres of
his being. He felt himself to be for ever and in very deed master of France,
acclaimed Dictator, solely by the people's will. Through the fumes of this
mad delirium he saw the Convention vanquished, paralysed with fear and
amazement.

He was thanking the French nation, who had laid aside their work to lift
their thoughts and aspirations towards the Great, the Supreme Being.

"Never," exclaimed the Incorruptible, "never has this world which He

created offered Him a sight more worthy of His regard. He has seen the
reign of tyranny, crime, and imposture on the earth——"

But a stir was noticeable in the crowd, not far from Robespierre. A man
had just made an observation in an audible whisper, attracting the attention
of the bystanders. They looked at him in surprise, trying to divine his
meaning, but Robespierre, who was too far off to have heard, continued—

"Frenchmen! if you would triumph over your enemies, be just, give to

the Divine Being the only offerings worthy of Him—virtue, compassion,
forbearance——"

"With the guillotine!" called the voice in the crowd, with a bitter laugh.

A murmur rose round the man, every one whispering out of respect for
Robespierre, who continued his harangue. They questioned the man,
threatened him. Voices grew louder. "Silence!" called the officials, but the
disturbance went on. "He ought to be arrested!" and the words drunkard,
aristocrat, chouan, were thrown at him. "What did he want? What did he
say?"

"Yes, what did you say?" asked a patriot coming close to him.

"I say only what you ought all to cry out to that charlatan—'Instead of
burning incense to your idol, Tyrant, burn the guillotine!'"

This daring critic, as the reader will guess at once, was Olivier.

His voice was drowned in a burst of applause which greeted the words
of Robespierre encouraging him to go on with his speech.

In presence of such irony Olivier lost all self-control.

"And they can applaud him, the fools! They can applaud him!"

The fury of the multitude, now unchained, knew no bounds. Cries of

"To death with him! To death!" were heard amidst the awful tumult, which
completely drowned the voice of Robespierre, whose anxiety was now also
aroused. Olivier, down-trodden, his clothes torn to tatters, fought and
struggled in the grasp of twenty or more of the infuriated populace. "He
must be killed! He is an aristocrat! A chouan! To death with him!" One of
the patriots lifted a be-ribboned spike in the air, threatening to pierce his
eyes. But a man armed to the teeth, dagger and pistols in his belt, pushed
aside the crowd and seized the offender by the throat. He then turned and
bade them make way for the officers of the peace who followed him.

"Stand back there!" he cried. "This man is to be dealt with by justice

only!"

It was Héron, chief police-agent of the Committee of Public Safety.

With the assistance of his men Héron dragged the offender to the feet of
Robespierre, who, being informed of the affair, had asked to see the
interrupter.

But a vociferating crowd obstructed the passage. Robespierre

impatiently descended the steps of the altar. The whole Convention and the
cortège had moved also, wishing to see. The police forced a way in the
crowd for Robespierre. At the name of the Incorruptible the multitude gave
way, and Olivier appeared before him, struggling in the powerful grasp of
Héron.
 "Against whom does this madman, who disturbs our fête, bear a
grudge?" asked Robespierre.

"Against you! hypocrite and scoundrel!" Olivier cried; "against you,

who dare speak of justice and humanity on this spot soaked with the blood
you have spilled!"

A horrified scream rose from the crowd, but was as soon hushed at a
sign from Robespierre. Olivier tried to throw himself on him, but was held
back by the police.

"Look at the soles of your shoes, you butcher!" he cried desperately.

"They are red with blood!"

He was not allowed to continue.

The Incorruptible motioned the agents to remove him out of reach of the
furious and exasperated crowd, who continued to cry out—

"To death with him! To death!"

Olivier turned in the grasp of his gaolers and cried—

"You can kill me, murder me, ruffians! but I have cried out, as others
will cry out after me, 'Down with the scaffold!'"

His words were lost in the tumult. Robespierre reascended the steps of
the statue, and tried to calm the people.

"Citizens!" he said, "let us give ourselves up to the joys of this fête,

which the insults and outrages of a rebel shall not disturb! To-morrow the
sword of Justice will strike with renewed ardour the enemies of our
country!"

Loud plaudits followed, and cries of "Long live the Republic! Long live
Robespierre! Long live the Incorruptible!"

"Down with the scaffold!" cried a faint voice in the distance.

 It was Olivier, whom the police, aided by the National Guards, were
carrying away in chains.

CHAPTER VIII

AN EVENING AT THE DUPLAYS'

Robespierre slowly descended the altar steps with a preoccupied air, for
that last desperate cry of Olivier had struck its mark. However self-
possessed he might be, he had felt the blow acutely. That voice, full of
hatred and revenge, had risen from the crowd he thought entirely at one
with him! In their very applause at that moment the people were protesting
against an insult coming from their ranks! They were driven to defend him,
when he had dreamt that the populace would receive him with instant and
unanimous enthusiasm, insuring to him for ever the esteem of France!

Pale and anxious, he followed the procession to the Champ de Mars,

where the fête was to close with one crowning patriotic demonstration. He
felt that his supremacy was tottering, and wondered how many more
discordant notes would disturb the prevailing harmony. Alas! there were
already signs of jarring discord. Certain members of the Convention talked
aloud in a free, sarcastic strain, on the road, openly exchanging opinions,
emboldened by Olivier's public insult. Words of dark and ominous import
reached the ears of Robespierre—words of hatred and scorn, of tragic
foreboding, and portentous prophecy. "I despise and hate him!" said one.
"There is but one step from the Tarpeian Rock to the Capitol!" said another.
And a third added: "A Brutus may yet arise!" To close the mouths of these
backbiters, he mentally reflected, and to save all, nothing was wanted but
the vox populi, the supreme and national mandate, uprising from the
assembled multitude and re-echoed through the whole of France:
"Robespierre Dictator! Dictator for life!" But the Incorruptible awaited any
such acclaim in vain.
 The fête of the Champ de Mars which followed was wanting in the
brilliancy and magnificence of the preceding festival. Every one was hot
and unstrung. Robespierre again addressed the people, who, tired from
having stood so long under a burning sun, were listless and absent-minded.
The demonstration was drawing to its close amidst a general feeling of
depression.

Nothing but confusion reigned on the march homeward. Robespierre

was to return to the Tuileries to meet several of his colleagues, but instead,
he hurried away, fully resolved to shut himself up in his room and open his
door to no one, not even to the Duplays, who had dogged his steps the
whole way back, trying to catch him up, and only succeeding at the
threshold of their house, where Robespierre begged them to have their little
festive party without him.

"I want rest," he said.

"The fête went very well, didn't it?" asked mother Duplay.

"Yes, very well!" replied Robespierre.

"Then you are satisfied?"

"Perfectly!"

As Cornélie began to tell him of some details which she thought had
escaped him, he put her off gently, saying—

"Was it so? Indeed! Well, you will tell me that to-morrow."

"What! You will not dine with us?"

"No; I must ask to be excused."

And as she pressed him to join them, he repeated—

"No, no; I must beg you to excuse me! Au revoir till to-morrow! Au
revoir!"
 With these words he went up to his room and locked himself in.

Every one was in low spirits at the Duplays' that evening. They scarcely
tasted their supper. No one was deceived by Robespierre's feigned
indisposition; they were well aware that the fête had been a great
disappointment to him, and they shared his chagrin, though they determined
that this should be in no way apparent.

"We must not disturb his meditations," observed mother Duplay.

"But are we not going to see the fireworks?" asked the boy Maurice
anxiously.

"We are not," declared mother Duplay. "How could we enjoy ourselves
without him?"

And they went early to bed.

The house, which had awakened to joy, now slumbered silently whilst
Paris was being lit up to prepare for the populace, again in holiday mood,
the promised display of fireworks.

Robespierre rejoined the Duplays next day at supper. He had spent the
morning and afternoon locked in his room, under pretext of working. And
work he did. Alone, in sullen silence, he prepared that atrocious Prairial
law, which he intended to lay before Convention forthwith—a law which
aimed at nothing less than the entire suppression of the right of defence
before the Revolutionary Tribunal. Moral evidence was to suffice; cross-
examinations, depositions, and the testimony of witnesses were to be done
away with. To be a "suspect" would itself be a proof of guilt.

Ah! he had been insulted! Well, this was his reply to the insult. He had
wished to establish his dictatorship under conditions of peace, but the great
pacific demonstration had not availed him. Were these cowards only to be
subjugated by terror? They should have it then, with renewed vigour, in a
whirlwind of tempestuous violence carrying everything before it. It should
be a fearful and memorable lesson! Every trace of those stubborn,