Quantifying vagueness in decision models (Q1060948)

When modelling specific decision situations the decision maker often feels overstrained when he is asked for precise numerical quotations concerning the objectives or the constraints, whereas qualitative statements are easily given. In the recent past the theory of fuzzy sets has proven to be very useful for representing this type of information. Though it is quite advanced formally, the practical determination of its core elements, i.e. membership functions and operators, has only been explored to a very limited extent. This paper presents results of empirical research which focused on the problem of modelling vagueness, i.e. determining membership functions of fuzzy sets which are considered as quantitative representations of vague concepts such as 'young man', 'long sticks', 'high profits', etc.