Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!news.iastate.edu!sharkey!fmsrl7!wdl1.wdl.loral.com!wdl1!mikeb From: mikeb@wdl35.wdl.loral.com (Michael H Bender) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: What is "fuzzy logic"? Message-ID: Date: 2 Apr 91 17:02:35 GMT References: <1991Mar28.192533.3272@waikato.ac.nz> <13842@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU> Sender: news@wdl1.wdl.loral.com Organization: Ford Aerospace, Western Development Laboratories Lines: 29 In-Reply-To: kadie@herodotus.cs.uiuc.edu's message of 1 Apr 91 01: 31:43 GMT > kadie@herodotus.cs.uiuc.edu (Carl M. Kadie) writes: > ah314368@longs.LANCE.ColoState.EDU (Vincent Huffaker) writes: > [...] > >Fuzzy-logic is essentially conditional logic but with a well-defined > >method (I don't know what it is) for applying operators (like 'and' or 'or') > >to statements with multiple probabilistic dependencies. > [...] > > When Dr. Zadeh spoke here last semester, he was asked if Fuzzy Logic > provided (required) a particular combination function. He said no; you > should use whatever combination function worked. Likewise it does > not provide (require) any particular possibility distribution; you should > use whatever works. > > Carl Kadie -- kadie@cs.uiuc.edu -- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign I think there is legitimate reason for confusion here. It is my understanding that in Dr.Zadeh's originial work he DID specify various combination functions (e.g., how AND and OR would operate.) However, his specifications seemed to be arbitrary and did not stand up well to the force of criticism. As a result, many practicioners (myself included) have developed our own combination functions. It is my belief that Dr. Zadeh may have changed his mind over the years. By the way - Does anyone have information about what combination functions are designed into the "FUZZY CHIPS" which have been developed in Japan and in the United States? Mike Bender