24 lines
1.2 KiB
Plaintext
24 lines
1.2 KiB
Plaintext
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A BRIEF ANSWER TO "WHAT IS FUZZY LOGIC?"
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Most decisions we make in daily living are thought out with words, not
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numbers. For example, suppose Al Bundy (a shoestore owner) tells his new
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assistant that he should first show a size 12 shoe if the customer is a very
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tall man and a size 6 if very short. Now a customer walks in and appears to
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be "somewhat tall". Since the customer is definitely not very short but also
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not exactly very tall, the assistant decides to first show a size 10.
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This reasonable decision was achieved by interpolating (finding a middle
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ground) between size 6 and size 12. Since the customer was closer to being
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very tall than being very short, a number was chosen closer to size 12 than
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size 6. This mental process can be modelled in a mathematical way called
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fuzzy logic.
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Note that a precise numeric value (size 10) was produced, even though the
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rules which the assistant was given contained vague non-numeric references,
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such as "very tall". That is the power of fuzzy logic.
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Mark Jurick
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Consultant
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