Gradual Numbers and Their Application to Fuzzy Interval Analysis

In this paper, we introduce a new way of looking at fuzzy intervals. Instead of considering them as fuzzy sets, we see them as crisp sets of entities we call gradual (real) numbers. They are a gradual extension of real numbers, not of intervals. Such a concept is apparently missing in fuzzy set theory. Gradual numbers basically have the same algebraic properties as real numbers, but they are functions. A fuzzy interval is then viewed as a pair of fuzzy thresholds, which are monotonic gradual real numbers. This view enables interval analysis to be directly extended to fuzzy intervals, without resorting to alpha-cuts, in agreement with Zadeh´s extension principle. Several results show that interval analysis methods can be directly adapted to fuzzy interval computation where end- points of intervals are changed into left and right fuzzy bounds. Our approach is illustrated on two known problems: computing fuzzy weighted averages and determining fuzzy floats and latest starting times in activity network scheduling.