Fuzzy subsethood is an important concept in the area of fuzzy sets.

It n fuzzy entropy, in the

relationship of fuzzy set theory and probability, and in developing rules in fuzzy logic.
Fuzzy subsethood is the concept of a given fuzzy set to contain another fuzzy set. The extent to
which one fuzzy set contains the other is defined by some degree between 0 and 1. Lets consider
the universal set X and two fuzzy sets, A and B. Let and be the membership functions of
A and B respectively. Fuzzy set B contains a fuzzy set A if x X. The measure of
the fuzzy subsethood is an entropy measure of a fuzzy set in F (X) x F (X), in which F (X) is a set
of fuzzy sets in the universal set X.
The entropy of a fuzzy set is an indicator of the degree to which the set is fuzzy. It is defined as
E: F (X) I, I = (0,1). The following are some of the properties of fuzzy entropy postulated by
DeLuca and Termini [1]:
(El)

E(A) = 0 iff A is non-fuzzy; i.e. {0,1} x X

(E2)
(E3)

E(A) = 1 iff A = P, in which P is the set whose membership function = x X

E(A) E(B) if A refines B; i.e. when and
when
c
E(A) = E(A ).

(E4)

Kosko further developed this concept of entropy to introduce the concept of subsethood.
(,
)
However, Kosko [2] defined the measure of entropy by () = , 1
(, )

where,

is the distance defined by (, ) = ( | | )

is the nearest non-fuzzy neighbor of A and its membership value at x is 0 if < .

is the farthest non-fuzzy neighbor of A, and = ( )
satisfies the axioms E1-E4.
Zadehs definition of fuzzy set containment states that B contains A if x X.
Kosko further generalized this definition to define subsethood as
min(() () )
| |
=
,
(, ) = {
()
||
1
,
Kosko also shows in one of his papers Kosko subsethood (, ) reduces to Koskos entropy
().
The concept of subsethood has been further researched by many others. Sanchez [3], Sinha and
Douherty [4] have postulated axioms for fuzzy subsetshood.
Kosko in [5] shows how the concept of fuzzy subsethood could be analyzing conditional
probability.
Young in [6] further develops the concept of fuzzy subsethood and extends it application in
developing rules for fuzzy logic.
1

BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1]

DeLuca and S. Termini, A definition of a non-probabilistic entropy in the setting of fuzzy sets theory,
lnform. Control 20 (1972) 301-312.

[2]

B. Kosko, Fuzzy entropy and conditioning, Inform. Sci. 40 (1986) 165-174.

[3]

E. Sanchez, Inverses of fuzzy relations: Applications to possibility distributions and medical diagnosis,

Proc. IEEE Conf. Decision Control, Vol. 2 (New Orleans, Louisiana, 1977) 1384-1389.
[4]

D. Sinha, E.R. Dougherty, Fuzzification of set inclusion: theory and applications, Fuzzy Sets and
Systems 55 (1993) 15-42.

[5]

B. Kosko, Fuzziness vs. probability, lnternat J. Gen. Systems 17 (1990) 211-240.

[6]

V. R. Young, Fuzzy subsethood, Fuzzy Sets and Systems 77 (1996) 371-384.