Fuzzy Discrete Structures Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing Editor-in-chief Prof. Janusz Kacprzyk Systems Research Institute Polish Academy of Sciences ul. Newelska 6 01-447 Warsaw, Poland E-mail: [email protected] http://www.springer.de/cgi-binlsearch_book.pl?series=2941 Vol. 3. A. Geyer-Schulz Vol. 14. E. Hisdal Fuzzy Rule-Based Expert Systems Logical Structures for Representation of Knowledge and Genetic Machine Learning, 2nd ed. 1996 and Uncertainty. 1998 ISBN 3-7908-0964-0 ISBN 3-7908-I 056-8 Vol. 4. T. Onisawa and J. Kaeprzyk (Eds.) Vol. 15. G.J. Klir and M.J. Wierman Uncertainty-Based Information, 2nd ed.. 1999 Reliability and Safety Analyses under Fuzziness. 1995 ISBN 3-7908-1242-0 ISBN 3-7908-0837-7 Vol. 16. D. Driankov and R. Palm (Eds.) Advances in Fuzzy Control, 1998 Vol. 5. P. Bose and J. Kacprzyk (Eds.) ISBN 3-7908-1090-8 Fuzziness in Database Management Systems. 1995 ISBN 3-7908-0858-X Vol. 17. L. Reznik. V. Dirnitrov and J. Kacprzyk (Eds.) Vol. 6. E. S. Lee and Q. Zhu Fuzzy Systems Design. 1998 Fuzzy and Evidence Reasoning. 1995 ISBN 3-7908-1118-1 ISBN 3-7908-0880-6 Vol. 18. L. Polkowski and A. Skowron (Eds.) Rough Sets in Knowledge Discovery 1. 1998 Vol. 7. B.A. Juliano and W. Bandler ISBN 3-7908-1I19-X Tracing Chains-of-Thought. 1996 ISBN 3-7908-0922-5 Vol. 19. L. Polkowski and A. Skowron (Eds.) Rough Sets in Knowledge Discovery 2. 1998 Vol. 8. F. Herrera and J. L. Verdegay (Eds.) ISBN 3-7908-1120-3 Genetic Algorithms and Soft Computing. 1996 ISBN 3-7908-0956-X Vol. 20. J.N. Mordeson and P.S. Nair Fuzzy Mathematics. 1998 Vol. 9. M. Sato et al. ISBN 3-7908-1121-1 Fuzzy Clustering Models and Applications. 1997 Vol. 21. L. C. Jain and T. Fukuda (Eds.) ISBN 3-7908-1026-6 Soft Computing for Inrelligenr Robotic Systems. 1998 Vol. 10. L. C. Jain (Ed.) ISBN 3-7908-1147-5 Soft Computing Techniques in Knowledge-based Intelligenr Engineering Systems. 1997 Vol. 22. J. Cardoso and H. Camargo (Eds.) ISBN 3-7908-1035-5 Fuzziness in Petri Nets. 1999 ISBN 3-7908-1158-0 Vol. 11. W. Mielczarski (Ed.) Fuzzy Logic Techniques in Power Systems. 1998, Vol. 23. P. S. Szczepaniak (Ed.) ISBN 3-7908-10444 Computational Intelligence and Applications, 1999 ISBN 3-7908-1161-0 Vol. 12. B. Bouchon-Meunier (Ed.) Vol. 24. E. Orlowska (Ed.) Aggregation and Fusion of Impeifect Information, Logic at Work, 1999 1998 ISBN 3-7908-1164-5 ISBN 3-7908-1048-7 Vol. 25. J. Buckley and Th. Feuring Vol. 13. E. Orlowska (Ed.) Fuzzy and Neural: 1nreractions and Applications. Incomplete Information: Rough Set Analysis. 1998 1999 ISBN 3-7908-1049-5 ISBN 3-7908-1l70-X continued on page 264 Davender S. Malik John N. Mordeson Fuzzy Discrete Structures With 37 Figures and 7 Tables Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH Prof. Davender S. Malik Prof. John N. Mordeson Creighton University Omaha, Nebraska 68178 USA E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] ISBN 978-3-7908-2477-3 ISBN 978-3-7908-1838-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-7908-1838-3 Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme Malik, Davender S.: Fuzzy discrete structures: with 7 tables I Davender S. Malik; John N. Mordeson. - Heidelberg; New York: Physica-Verl., 2000 (Studies in fuzziness and soft computing; Vol. 58) 1bis work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation. reprinting. reuse of illustrations. recitation. broadcasting. reproduction on micromm or in any other way. and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9. 1965. in its current version. and permission for use must always be obtained from Physica-Verlag. Violations are liable for prosecution under the Ger man Copyright Law. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2000 Originally published by Physica-Verlag Heidelberg New York in 2000 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2000 The use of general descriptive names. registered names. trademarks. etc. in this publication does not imply. even in the absence of a specilic statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Hardcover Design: Erich Kirchner. Heidelberg To Lotfi A. Zadeh Foreword This ambitious exposition by Malik and Mordeson on the fuzzification of discrete structures not only supplies a solid basic text on this key topic, but also serves as a viable tool for learning basic fuzzy set concepts "from the ground up" due to its unusual lucidity of exposition. While the entire presentation of this book is in a completely traditional setting, with all propositions and theorems provided totally rigorous proofs, the readability of the presentation is not compromised in any way; in fact, the many ex cellently chosen examples illustrate the often tricky concepts the authors address. The book's specific topics - including fuzzy versions of decision trees, networks, graphs, automata, etc. - are so well presented, that it is clear that even those researchers not primarily interested in these topics will, after a cursory reading, choose to return to a more in-depth viewing of its pages. Naturally, when I come across such a well-written book, I not only think of how much better I could have written my co-authored monographs, but naturally, how this work, as distant as it seems to be from my own area of interest, could nevertheless connect with such. Before presenting the briefest of some ideas in this direction, let me state that my interest in fuzzy set theory (FST) has been, since about 1975, in connecting aspects of FST directly with corresponding probability concepts. One chief vehicle in carrying this out involves the concept of random sets. At the outset, a ba sic interesting point (no proverbial pun intended!) connected with random sets - or rather subsets of a given domain - is that while all of the ordinary laws of probability are obeyed and formally all one is doing is replacing in "ordinary" probability evaluations "points" (or vectors) by sets of points Vlll Foreword (or vectors) in the randomization process, something very profound has taken place at even the simple finite domain cases: While the probabilities of the distinct outcomes of the random set in question must add up to unity, unlike our normal image of a probability function over that domain representing an ordinary random variable over same domain, the distinct outcomes, i.e., subsets of the domain, need not be disjoint, unlike our image of points. Of course, if we were to interpret such point as really representing possibly overlapping concepts as random sets do in general, without vio lating probability constraints, the same idea would unfold. But, the human side of this traditionally has been that when one sees a probability function - and equivalently, a discrete-valued random variable (or random vector) - one almost invariably thinks of complete disjointness. (Parenthetically, it would be interesting to see if any associated psychological studies have ever been initiated in this direction concerning our intuitive concepts of probability for random sets.) In turn, the very overlapping of the outcomes of a random set allow for a richer expression of probability concepts than just a point-limited random variable over the same domain. In a related vein, certain types of possible overlap of random sets with fixed (but arbitrary) given sets from the same domain serves as a basis for the basic functions of Dempster-Shafer Theory - belief (superset re lation), plausibility (incidence relation), doubt, and a fourth not usually named (each representing also the four basic Choquet infinite capacities - see Nguyen's now classic exposition of 1978, pp. 531-542 in the Jour nal of Mathematical Analysis fj Applications). In particular, for the fixed sets restricted to be singletons from the domain, when overlaps occur they represent one-point coverage events generated by the effect of the ran dom set covering such given points. Then, somewhat analogous to the way Dempster-Shafer Theory can be explained via random sets acting upon fixed sets, one can show that a fuzzy set (in the first order sense with mem bership function having range only in the unit interval) can be likewise in terpreted as the action of a random set covering individual specified points of the fuzzy set's domain. In general, unlike the Dempster-Shafer situation, there may be many such (even an infinity of truly different) random sets providing such action resulting in the same fuzzy set representation. On the other hand, when the fuzzy set is actually a crisp set, the random set is uniquely determined as the constant crisp set itself. In fact, in general, each possible truly distinct random set representing a given fuzzy set in the above one-point coverage way is completely determine by both the given fuzzy set and a particular (but arbitrary) choice of copula, co-copula pair. Moreover, while even the algebraic structure of Zadeh's classical min-max-l-(.) logi cal operators over fuzzy sets is not equivalent isomorphically to that of the ordinary (boolean set) algebraic structure of sets - and hence random sets and their associated ordinary events, including one-point coverage events - certain localized equivalences can be obtained, including "isomorphic-like" correspondences between a number of fuzzy logic concepts and one-point Foreword IX coverage events. For example, Zadeh's extension principle couched in gen eral co-copula form (extending max) applied to some crisp function g with arguments described by fuzzy set f can be interpreted as the one-point cov erage action of the functional image under g of the random set determined by f and the copula-cocopula pair chosen on singletons of the domain of f. For further information on these ideas, see, e.g., the articles by Goodman & Nguyen, "Applications of conditional and relational event algebra to the s. defining of fuzzy logic concepts", Froc. P. I.E. Signal Processing, Sensor Fusion f3 Target Recognition VIII (vol. 3720), Orlando, FL, April, 1999, pp. 25-36, or Goodman & Kramer, "Extension of rational and conditional event algebra to random sets with applications to data fusion", in Random Sets: Theory f3 Applications (J. Goutsias, R.P. Mahler & H.T. Nguyen, eds.) Springer-Verlag, New York, 1997, pp. 209-242.) Finally, with some of the basic ideas outlined above relating fuzzy set concepts with corresponding random set ones, one may ask whether any natural connections can be established between the various fuzzified crisp concepts analyzed in Fuzzy Discrete Structures and naturally correspond ing random set concepts. For example, section (4) on fuzzy graphs and shortest path depends obviously on how one carries out the fuzzification of graphs and subgraphs, as well as the valuation of the arcs of a fuzzy graph. While each of these concepts has a rote one-point coverage random set representation, the challenge is to determine whether a nontrivial cor respondence exists between the theorems and procedures associated with these fuzzy concepts and natural crisp counterparts applied to random sets, as in the case of the extension principle. If such correspondences could be found for either the currently used or suitably modified definitions, then an even stronger case can be made for justifying the very direction of fuzzifi cation of the crisp concepts involved. Much work remain in this essentially unexplored area. LR. Goodman Space & Naval Warfare Systems Center San Diego, CA 92152 Preface In 1965, L.A. Zadeh introduced the concepts of a fuzzy subset of a set as a way for representing uncertainty. Zadeh's ideas stirred researchers world wide. His ideas have been applied to a wide range of scientific areas. Here we consider the area of mathematics which is normally known as discrete structures. Since texts on discrete structures cover a wide variety of sub jects, the topics appearing in such books do not appear in the depth they would in books specializing in these topics. This book deals with fuzzy logic, fuzzy switching functions, fuzzy decision trees, fuzzy networks, fuzzy Petri nets, fuzzy path problems, fuzzy automata, and fuzzy languages. As in crisp books on discrete structures, the topics in this book do not appear in the depth they would in books specializing in these topics. The book should be of interest to research mathematicians, engineers, and computer scientists interested in applications. In Chapter 1, we present just enough material on fuzzy logic to study fuzzy switching functions and their decomposition. We concentrate on the minimization of completely specified fuzzy functions. We touch briefly on the minimization of incompletely specified fuzzy functions, leaving the in terested reader to pursue the issue elsewhere, say in Kandel and Lee, [4]. The chapter concludes with a section on the solution of fuzzy logical in equalities. Chapter 2 is concerned with fuzzy decision trees. We begin the chapter with a review of crisp decision trees. We introduce the idea of a fuzzy decision tree and present a branch-bound-backtrack algorithm which has an effective backtracking mechanism leading to the optimal solution while