On fuzzy algorithms

TLDR: A fuzzy algorithm is introduced which, though fuzzy rather than precise in nature, may eventually prove to be of use in a wide variety of problems relating to information processing, control, pattern recognition, system identification, artificial intelligence and, more generally, decision processes involving incomplete or uncertain data.

Abstract: Unlike most papers in Information and Control, our note contains no theorems and no proofs. Essentially, its purpose is to introduce a basic concept which, though fuzzy rather than precise in nature, may eventually prove to be of use in a wide variety of problems relating to information processing, control, pattern recognition, system identification, artificial intelligence and, more generally, decision processes involving incomplete or uncertain data. The concept in question will be called a fuzzy algorithm because it may be viewed as a generalization, through the process of fuzzification, of the conventional (nonfuzzy) conception of an algorithm. More specifically, unlike a nonfuzzy deterministic or nondeterministic algorithm (Floyd, 1967), a fuzzy algorithm may contain fuzzy statements, that is, statements containing names of fuzzy sets (Zadeh, 1965), by which we mean classes in which there may be grades of membership intermediate between full membership and nonmembership. To illustrate, fuzzy algorithms may contain fuzzy instructions such as: