Solving problems in Library and Information Science using Fuzzy Set Theory
William W. Hood, Concepción Shimizu Wilson · Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) · 2002
VARIOUS MATHEMATICAL TOOLS AND THEORIES have found application in Library and Information Science (LIS) .One of these is Fuzzy Set Theory (FST).FST is a generalization of classical Set Theory, designed to better model situations where membership of a set is not discrete but is "fuzzy."The theory dates from 1965,when Lotfi Zadeh published his seminal paper on the topic.As well as mathematical developments and extensions of the theory itself, there have been many applications of FST to such diverse areas as medical diagnoses and washing machines.The theory has also found application in a number of aspects of LIS.Information Retrieval (IR) is one area where FST can prove useful; this paper reviews IR applications of FST.Another major area of Information Science in which FST has found application is Informetrics; these studies are also reviewed.A few examples of the use of this theory in non-LIS domains are also examined.