Metric properties of fuzzy partitions (Q1367486)

Fuzzy partitions can be represented as weighted sums of classical partitions. \textit{J. C. Bezdek} and \textit{J. D. Harris} [J. Math. Anal. Appl. 67, 490-512 (1979; Zbl 0411.68056)] described a ``minimax'' decomposition of any fuzzy partition into such a weighted sum claiming to get shortest sums in this way. The author disproves this claim. The result is part of a study of the space of fuzzy partitions w.r.t. their decomposition behaviour, e.g. yielding the results that the minimax decomposition has some suitable robustness, that however there is instability in decomposition length in the sense that the set of fuzzy partitions with ``short'' decompositions is nowhere dense in the space of all fuzzy partitions, and that under suitable assumptions there is even no uniquenes of shortest decompositions. The meaning of these results for the analysis of fuzzy data is also discussed.