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Fuzzy logic

DOI
10.4324/9780415249126-Y080-1
DOI: 10.4324/9780415249126-Y080-1
Version: v1,  Published online: 1998
Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/fuzzy-logic/v-1

Article Summary

The term ‘fuzzy’ refers to concepts without precise borders. Membership in a ‘fuzzy’ set – the set of things to which a ‘fuzzy’ concept (fuzzily) applies – is to be thought of as being a matter of degree. Hence, in order to specify a fuzzy set, one must specify for every item in the universe the extent to which the item is a member of the set. The engineer Lotfi Zadeh developed a theory of fuzzy sets and advocated their use in many areas of engineering and science. Zadeh and his zealous followers have attempted to develop fuzzy systems theory, fuzzy algorithms and even fuzzy arithmetic. The phrase ‘fuzzy logic’ has come to be applied rather imprecisely to any analysis that is not strictly binary. It does not refer to any particular formal logic, in the sense in which the term ‘logic’ is used by philosophers and mathematicians. (‘Fuzzy logic’ is sometimes used anachronistically to refer to any many-valued logic.)

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Citing this article:
Morgan, Charles G.. Fuzzy logic, 1998, doi:10.4324/9780415249126-Y080-1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/fuzzy-logic/v-1.
Copyright © 1998-2024 Routledge.

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