On the distributivity of uninorms over nullnorms (Q691713)

A uninorm \(U\) is an associative, commutative and increasing binary operation on the interval \([0,1]\) with a neutral element. Similarly, a nullnorm \(V\) is an associative, commutative and increasing binary operation on the interval \([0,1]\) with an absorbing element \(k\in[0,1]\) such that \(V(0,x)=x\) for all \(x\leq k\) and \(V(1,x)=x\) for all \(x\geq k\). In this paper, the authors investigate the distributivity of uninorms over nullnorms, i.e., the equation \(U(x,V(y,z))=V(U(x,y),U(x,z))\). They consider the case when the uninorm is continuous in \((0,1)^2\) or is representable. It is proved that the absorbing element of the nullnorm is an idempotent element of the uninorm if the distributivity equation holds. Some interesting results are obtained when the nullnorm is continuous.