Interval Fuzzy Segments

Abstract

In this paper, we bring together two concepts related to uncertainty and vagueness: fuzzy numbers and intervals. With them, we build a new structure whose elements we call interval fuzzy segments. We have undertaken this based on the conviction that the fuzzy numbers are a correct representation of the real numbers under situations of indeterminacy. We also believe that if it makes sense to consider the set of real numbers between two real bounds, then it also makes sense to consider the set of all the fuzzy numbers between two fuzzy number bounds. In this way, we extend the concept of real interval to the concept of interval fuzzy segment defined by two fuzzy bounds and a transition mapping that leads from the lower fuzzy bound to the upper fuzzy bound and this transition mapping generates the set of all the fuzzy numbers comprised between those fuzzy bounds. At the same time, this transition mapping brings the concept of interval fuzzy segment closer to the concept of line segment.