Title: Multiple attribute group decision making in interval type-2 fuzzy environment using a new distance formulation

Authors: Armaghan Heidarzade; Iraj Mahdavi; Nezam Mahdavi-Amiri

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering, Mazandaran University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 734, Babol, Iran ' Department of Industrial Engineering, Mazandaran University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 734, Babol, Iran ' Faculty of Mathematical Sciences, Sharif University of Technology, Azadi Avenue, P.O. Box 11155-9415, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: Type-2 fuzzy sets are generalisations of ordinary fuzzy sets in which the membership grades are characterised by fuzzy membership functions. Here, we consider the problem of finding the distance between two interval type-2 fuzzy sets (IT2-FSs). We define the formulation of calculating the distance between two IT2-FSs based on a new definition of centroid for an IT2-FS and explain an algorithm for obtaining it. Then, based on our proposed distance formulation, we present a method to deal with fuzzy multiple attributes group decision-making (FMAGDM) problems. We also use two examples to illustrate the FMAGDM process of the proposed method. The method provides us with a useful way to deal with FMAGDM problems based on IT2-FSs.

Keywords: interval type-2 fuzzy sets; IT2-FSs; fuzzy distance; fuzzy GDM; multiattribute decision making; group decision making.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOR.2015.070860

International Journal of Operational Research, 2015 Vol.24 No.1, pp.17 - 37

Received: 24 May 2013
Accepted: 20 Aug 2013
Published online: 31 Jul 2015 *

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