Transactions on Fuzzy Sets and Systems (May 2024)
A “Journey” from Traditional to Fuzzy Methods of Decision-Making
Abstract
Decision-making (DM) is one of the most important components of human cognition. Starting with a review of the traditional criteria for DM, this work presents also a method for the verification of a decision, a step of the DM process which, due to its special interest, is usually examined separately from its other steps. Frequently in everyday life, however, the data of a DM problem are vague and characterized by uncertainty. In such cases the traditional techniques for DM, which are based on principles of the bivalent logic (yes-no), cannot help effectively in making the right decision. The first who introduced principles of the fuzzy sets theory in DM were Bellman and Zadeh in 1970 and an example is given here illustrating their fuzzy criterion for DM. Also, among the several fuzzy methods proposed later by other researchers for a more effective DM, a hybrid method is developed here for parametric multiple-criteria DM using soft sets and grey numbers (or intuitionistic fuzzy sets, or neutrosophic sets) as tools, which improves an earlier method proposed by Maji et al. in 2002. All the DM approaches presented in this paper are illustrated with everyday practical examples.
