Concept lattices and similarity in non-commutative fuzzy logic

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Georgescu, George | Popescu, Andrei

Affiliations: Institute of Mathematics, Calea Grivitei Nr. 21, P.O. Box 1-767, Bucharest, Romania | Fundamentals of Computer Science, Faculty of Mathematics University of Bucharest, Romania

Abstract: A classical (crisp) concept is given by its extent (a set of objects) and its intent (a set of properties). In commutative fuzzy logic, the generalization comes naturally, considering fuzzy sets of objects and properties. In both cases (the first being actually a particular case of the second), the situation is perfectly symmetrical: a concept is given by a pair (A,B), where A is the largest set of objects sharing the attributes from B and B is the largest set of attributes shared by the objects from A (with the necessary nuance when fuzziness is concerned). Because of this symmetry, working with objects is the same as working with properties, so there is no need to make any choice. In this paper, we define concepts in a "non-commutative fuzzy world", where conjunction of sentences is not necessarily commutative, which leads to the following non-symmetrical situation: a concept has one extent (because, at the end of the day, concepts are meant to embrace, using certain descriptions, diverse sets of objects), but two intents, given by the two residua (implications) of the non-commutative conjunction.

Journal: Fundamenta Informaticae, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 23-54, 2002