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Membership Function (mathematics)





DEFINITION


For any set X, a membership function on X is any function from X to the real unit interval {Link without Title} .

Membership functions on X represent Fuzzy Subsets of X. The membership function which represents a fuzzy set ilde A is usually denoted by \mu_A. For an element x of X, the value \mu_A(x) is called the ''membership degree'' of x in the fuzzy set ilde A. The membership degree \mu_{A}(x) quantifies the grade of membership of the element x to the fuzzy set ilde A. The value 0 means that x is not a member of the fuzzy set; the value 1 means that x is fully a member of the fuzzy set. The values between 0 and 1 characterize fuzzy members, which belong to the fuzzy set only partially.


Membership function of a fuzzy set


Sometimes,First in Goguen (1967). a more general definition is used, where membership functions take values in an arbitrary fixed algebra or structure L; usually it is required that L be at least a Poset or Lattice . The usual membership functions with values in are then called [0, 1 -valued membership functions.



CAPACITY

One application of membership functions is as capacities in Decision Theory .

In decision theory, a capacity is defined as a function,
u from S, the set of subsets of some set, into {Link without Title} , such that
u is set-wise monotone and is normalized (ie
u(\empty) = 0,
u(\Omega)=1). Clearly this is a generalization of a Probability Measure , where the Probability Axiom of countability is weakened. A capacity is used as a subjective measure of the likelyhood of an event, and the " Expected Value " of an outcome given a certain capacity can be found by taking the Choquet Integral over the capacity.


SEE ALSO



REFERENCES



BIBLIOGRAPHY


Zadeh L.A., 1965, "Fuzzy sets". ''Information and Control'' 8: 338–353. {Link without Title}

Goguen J.A, 1967, "''L''-fuzzy sets". ''Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications'' 18: 145–174


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