Pseudocriteria and pseudocriterial choice (Q1119143)

The paper is concerned with the external (`input-output') description and investigation of operators implementing the mapping of a finite set of variants onto a segment of the numerical axis. These operators are a generalization of the notion of `function of choice'. For these operators the characteristic properties are defined by specifying domains in the operators' space. A graph and some tournament mechanisms of generating the operators are investigated and natural operations with the operators are introduced. The widely used rules for picking out the best variants - by maximization of a numerical function built beforehand and by superthreshold choice using a function of some kind - are considered as a mapping of domains from the space of the described operators into the subspace of the functions of choice. Domains in the subspace of functions of choice are established onto which these rules map the domains of the operators' space specified by the characteristic properties introduced.