Information Sciences 272 (2014) 96–110

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Information Sciences
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ins

Footprint of uncertainty for type-2 fuzzy sets

Hong Mo a,⇑, F.-Y. Wang b,c, Min Zhou a,d, Runmei Li d, Zhiquan Xiao e
a
College of Electrical and Information Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, Hunan 410114, PR China
b
The Key Laboratory of Management and Intelligent Control of Complex Systems, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 10190, PR China
c
Center for Military Computational Experiments and Parallel Systems Technology, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, Hunan 410073, PR China
d
School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, PR China
e
School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan, Hubei 430073, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In the paper, a new and comprehensible definition is proposed for type-2 fuzzy sets
Received 23 April 2013 (T2 FSs), and the primary and secondary memberships function are defined respectively
Received in revised form 7 February 2014 by using multi valued mapping. A new definition and formula for the footprint of uncer-
Accepted 11 February 2014
tainty (FOU) is presented, and based on the new definitions, the relation between FOU
Available online 20 February 2014
and the original definition of T2 FS is discussed. Finally, the partition method of FOU is
provided to represent the primary membership grade, the FOU and the interval type-2
Keywords:
fuzzy sets (IT2 FS) when the upper and lower membership functions (UMF, LMF) of FOU
Type-2 fuzzy set (T2 FS)
Interval type-2 fuzzy set (IT2 FS)
are given.
Footprint of uncertainty (FOU) Ó 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Partition method of FOU

1. Introduction

In 1975, Zadeh presented the definition of type-n fuzzy set [66], followed by a new definition of type-2 fuzzy set (T2 FS)
introduced by Mizumoto in 1976 [44], as well as relatively new versions of the definitions for T2 FS by Mendel and others
[30,31,38,63,64]. Current works on T2 FS have been mainly based on the definition introduced by Mendel [18,23,25–27,67].
Now the study of type-2 fuzzy sets, especially interval type-2 fuzzy sets (IT2 FS) have been one of popular directions in arti-
ficial and computational intelligence [19,20,51,52,55]. T2 FSs have been successfully used in many areas, such as computing
with words [39], human resource management [18], forecasting of time-series [28], clustering [3,54], pattern recognition
[10], fuzzy logic controller [65], industrial application [12], simulation [29], and neural network [8,57].
Footprint of uncertainty (FOU) is very important in the characterization of a T2 FS [34,35]. The original FOU by Mendel is
described as ‘‘the union of the primary memberships’’ [17,40], where the primary memberships are the subsets of the unit
interval I. However, Mendel emphasizes ‘‘FOU can let us easily visualize a T2 FS in two-dimensions’’ [36], that means every
point of FOU is represented by two coordinates, which is inconsistent with the original FOU, because every point of original
FOU is represented only by one coordinate. From the corresponding figure, an FOU corresponds to an intuitive two-dimen-
sional visual description which is completely specified by its bounding functions [58], a bound region between upper and
lower membership functions’’ [13–16], a subarea of a 2D plain [41–43], and also being seen as the projection of the set onto
the x  u plane [21], the uncertainty represented by a region [4–6]. The original FOU is contract with conclusion. Hu and
Kwong [24] doubt the correctness of the original FOU using a specific example. Recently, Mo and Wang have provided

⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 15084861246.

E-mail address: mohong72@gmail.com (H. Mo).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ins.2014.02.092
0020-0255/Ó 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 H. Mo et al. / Information Sciences 272 (2014) 96–110 97

the revised definition and formula for FOU [47–49]. However, more and more people still follow the original FOU
[9,22,50,53,59,60,62,69]. It is essential to provide the characteristics of FOU to make it be easily understood.
The representation of FOU is a key problem in T2 FS theory. FOU can be decided uniquely by the corresponding upper
membership function (UMF) and lower membership function (LMF) [11], so the studies of IT2 FS are often converted to their
corresponding LMF and UMF [34,37–39], where LMF and UMF are all type-1 fuzzy sets on the same universe of IT2 FS.
Although FOU of a T2 FS can be determined by the corresponding LMF and UMF, its representation cannot be written as that
of UMF and LMF. Zhou and Chiclana represent the FOU of a T2 FS at five specified points [70]. But to represent FOU of a gen-
eral IT2 FS, the primary membership grade should be first provided.
On another hand, T2 FS definitions by Zadeh, Mizumoto, Mendel and others are different [25,40,41,56,66]. In order to
compare these definitions, the corresponding primary membership function[49] is presented, so it is necessary to provide
the secondary membership functions and corresponding FOUs, to provide the different definitions with consistent forms
to differentiate them.
According to these discussions, the contributions of this paper are as follows:

 Proposing new definitions for T2 FS. The definitions of T2 FSs by Zadeh, Mizumoto and Mendel are redefined by two
steps. The first step is to define the primary membership functions and the second step is to define the secondary
membership functions. The relations and differences among the definitions of T2 FSs, FOUs, primary membership
functions and secondary membership function are analyzed.
 Proposing new definitions and formulas for footprints of uncertainty for T2 FSs by Zadeh, Mizumoto and Mendel, and
analyzing the characteristics of footprints of uncertainties, and giving the relations between FOU and their corre-
sponding first and secondary membership functions. Based on the new definition of FOU, proposing the partition
method of FOU to represent FOU, the primary membership grade and corresponding IT2 FS.

The paper is arranged as follows. Section 2 reviews the concepts fuzzy set and T2 FSs. Section 3 is devoted to introduce the
new definition and formula of FOU. Section 4 gives the new definitions of T2 FS. Section 5 provides the relationship of FOU
g and the conclusion is in Section 7.
and the original definition of T2 FS. Section 6 presents the representation of FOU and FOU

2. Preliminaries

Let X; Y be two sets, and for any x 2 X; y 2 Y, there is an ordered pair ðx; yÞ. The set of all these ordered pairs called Carte-
sian Product of X; Y, written as X  Y
X  Y ¼ fðx; yÞjx 2 X; y 2 Yg
e be a fuzzy set on X defined as
In the paper, X is the universe of discourse, I ¼ ½0; 1. Let A
e:X!I
A

l:x#u
for every x 2 X, there is u 2 I, such that le ðxÞ ¼ u, where e
leA ðxÞ is called the membership function of A.
e is a subset of the X  I, written as A
A
e ¼ fðx; uÞjx 2 X; u ¼ l ðxÞ 2 Ig
A eA

e
For a fuzzy set B,
e ¼ fxjl ðxÞ > 0g
suppð BÞ e B

e where B is the closure set of the conventional set B.

is the supported set of B,
By Zadeh’s definition of type-n fuzzy set [66], we have

Definition 1 (Zadeh [66]). A fuzzy set is of type 2, if its membership function ranges over fuzzy sets of type 1. The
membership function of a fuzzy set of type 1 ranges over the interval ½0; 1.
e on X can be written as follows [25]:
By Definition 1, a T2 FS x

le ex : X ! II
That is to say, for every x 2 X, there is a mapping Ax 2 II , such that
le ex ðxÞ ¼ Ax
where II ¼ fAx jAx : I ! I; x 2 Xg.
The definition can be explained as [2,56].
A T2 FS x e is equivalently defined by a measurable membership function
98 H. Mo et al. / Information Sciences 272 (2014) 96–110

le xe : X  ½0; 1 ! ½0; 1
which can also be represented as a function
le xe : X ! fAx 2 X : ½0; 1 ! ½0; 1; x 2 Xg
where X is some set of allowance secondary membership function on the unit interval.

b in a set X is the fuzzy set which is characterized by a fuzzy

Definition 2 (Mizumoto and Tanaka [44]). A fuzzy set of type 2 x
membership function l
b b as
x
lb xb : X ! IJ
with the value lb x ðxÞ being called a fuzzy grade and being a fuzzy set in ½0; 1 (or in the subset J of ½0; 1).
That is to say, for every x 2 X, there is a mapping Bx 2 IJ , such that
l bx ðxÞ ¼ Bx
where IJ ¼ fBx jBx : J ! I; x 2 Xg.

Definition 3 (Mendel and John [40]). A T2 FS, denoted by x, is characterized by a type-2 membership function lx ðx; uÞ,
where x 2 X and u 2 J x # ½0; 1, i.e.,
x ¼ fððx; uÞ; lx ðx; uÞÞj8x 2 X; 8u 2 Jx # ½0; 1g
or
Z Z
lx ðx; uÞ
x¼
x2X u2J x ðx; uÞ

where x(or u) is the primary (or secondary) variable, J x # ½0; 1 the primary membership, 0 6 lx ðx; uÞ  1 the secondary
grade.

3. New definition of FOU

In [10,33,40], FOU of T2 FS x is defined as ‘‘the union of all the primary membership degree’’. The corresponding formula
[10,32,38,41] is given as follows:
[
FOUðxÞ ¼ Jx ð1Þ
x2X

If x is continuous, then
[
FOUðxÞ ¼ ½l1x ðxÞ; l1x ðxÞ ð2Þ
x2X

where l1x ðxÞ; l1x ðxÞ are lower membership functions (LMF) and upper membership functions (UMF) respectively. In many
papers, e.g. [1,7,18,57], the Eqs. (1) and (2) are adopted by the researchers.
Fig. 1 shows us the FOU of a T2 FS. In the figure, the FOU is depicted by the shade area. J x0 is the primary membership
grade and lx0 is the Cartesian Product of x0 and J x0 .
S
From (1) and (2), J u (or ½l1x ðxÞ; l1x ðxÞ) and x2X J x are all subsets of the interval I of which every point has only one coor-
dinate. In Fig. 1, every point consists of two coordinates of which the abscissa is the universe of discourse and the ordinate is
the unit interval.
S
Proposition 1. Let x be a T2 FS on X, then FOUðxÞ ¼ x2X lx , where lx ¼ x  J x .

Proof. For a T2 FS x and the point x 2 X, the primary grade is J x . In fig.1, the line segment lx whose projection on u-axis is J x
corresponds to the Cartesian Product of x and the corresponding primary membership grade, i.e.,
lx ¼ x  J x ¼ fðx; uÞju 2 J x g
Then
[ [
lx ¼ x  J x ¼ fðx; uÞjx 2 X; u 2 J u g
x2X x2X

and
FOUðxÞ ¼ fðx; uÞjx 2 X; u 2 J u g
 H. Mo et al. / Information Sciences 272 (2014) 96–110 99

Fig. 1. FOU of a T2 FS.

Thus
[
FOUðxÞ ¼ lx
x2X

where lx ¼ x  J x . h

In Fig. 1, it is easy to see that FOU is the union of lx . Proposition 1 agrees with the result in [46,48,68].
From Proposition 1, we can provide the definition of FOU as follows:

Definition 4. FOU is the union of all the Cartesian Products of every point and its primary membership grade.
The corresponding formula can be written as
[
FOUðxÞ ¼ x  Jx ð3Þ
x2X

If x is a continuous T2 FS, then (2) should be modified as

[
FOUðxÞ ¼ x  ½l1x ðxÞ; l1x ðxÞ ð4Þ
x2X

Proposition 2. FOUðxÞ is the set of all type-1 fuzzy sets on X whose membership grades are between the UMF and LMF.

e be a FS on X, then
Proof. In Fig. 2, let A
e ¼ fðx; uÞjx 2 X; u ¼ l ðxÞg
A e A

and
FOUðxÞ ¼ fðx; uÞjx 2 X; u 2 J u g
Then FOUðxÞ can be written as
e 2 X; l ðxÞ 2 J g
FOUðxÞ ¼ f Ajx e x
A

It is to say that all type-1 fuzzy sets on X whose membership grades are between the UMF and LMF form the correspond-
ing FOU. h

Because type-1 FS contains point whose membership grade is zero, from Proposition 2, there is the following conclusion.

Corollary 1. FOU contains the points whose primary membership grade are zero.
100 H. Mo et al. / Information Sciences 272 (2014) 96–110

Fig. 2. Type-1 fuzzy sets contained in FOU.

4. New definition for T2 FSs

The new definition of T2 FS is presented by the following two steps: the first step is to define the primary membership
function and then to define the second membership function.
Zadeh’s definition of T2 FS is redefined as follows:

e 1x be a multi value mapping, defined as.

Definition 5. Let x be a T2 FS on X; l

le 1x : X ! fIg
x#I
where l e 1x is called the primary membership function by Zadeh. That is to say, for every x 2 X, the primary membership grade
e 2x be a conventional mapping defined as
is I. Let l

le 2x : X  I ! I
xu#z
e 2x is the second membership function.
where u 2 I; z 2 I, and l

Definition 6. Let x be a T2 FS on X by Zadeh. The Cartesian Product of X and I is called the footprint of uncertainty, written as
g
FOU.
g ¼XI
FOU
Mizumoto’s definition for T2 FS can be redefined as.

b 1x be a multi value mapping, defined as

Definition 7. Let x be a T2 FS on X; l

lb 1x : X ! fJg
x#J
where lb 1x is called the primary membership function by Mizumoto. That is to say, for every x 2 X, the primary membership
b 2x be a conventional mapping defined as
grade is the same certain subset J # I. Let l

lb 2x : X  J ! I
xu#z
where x 2 X; u 2 J; z 2 I, and l
b 2x is the second membership function by Mizumoto.
 H. Mo et al. / Information Sciences 272 (2014) 96–110 101

Let X is a set of all subsets of the unit interval, that is

X ¼ fJx jJx # ½0; 1g

Definition 8. Let x be a T2 FS on X by Mizumoto. The Cartesian Product of X and J is called the footprint of uncertainty,
d
written as FOU,

d ¼XJ
FOU
Mendel’s definition for T2 FS x can be redefined as.

Definition 9. Let x be a T2 FS on X; l1x be a multi value mapping, defined as

l1x : X ! X
x # Jx
where l1x is called the primary membership function. That is to say, for every x 2 X, the primary membership grade is J x , and
J x is changing with the variation of x. Let l2x be a conventional mapping defined as
[
l2x : x  Jx ! I
x2X

xu#z
where u 2 I; z 2 I, and l2x is the second membership function.
Then Mendel’s definition can also be written as.

Definition 10. Let x be a T2 FS on X, defined by a membership function

[
lx : X ! IJx
x2X

i.e., for every x 2 X, there is a g 2 IJx , such that

lx ðxÞ ¼ g
where IJx ¼ fgjg : J x ! ½0; 1g; g ¼ lx ðxÞ.

Proposition 3. FOUðxÞ is the primary membership functions l1x , written as

FOUðxÞ ¼ l1x ðxÞ

Proof. By Definition 9, the primary membership function at x is l1x , can be written as

l1x ðxÞ ¼ fðx; uÞjx 2 X; u 2 Jx g

By (3),
FOUðxÞ ¼ fðx; uÞjx 2 X; u 2 J x g
Then the conclusion is true. h
S S
Let E1 ¼ x2X IJx ; E2 ¼ fJ x jx 2 X; J x # Ig; E3 ¼ x2X x  J x . The comparisons of the related definitions are listed in Table 1.
From Table 1, it is easy to see that J x defined by Mendel is the improvement of J by Mizumoto, so in the later discussion,
only the definitions defined by Zadeh and Mendel are mentioned.
In Section 6, the partition method of FOU will be provided to represent FOU and then some examples are given to differ-
entiate the formula (1) and (3), (2) and (4).

5. Relationship of FOU and the original definition of T2 FS

e x on I ¼ ½0; 1, such

e be a T2 FS on X, then by Definition 1 and Definition 5, for every x 2 X, there is a type-1 fuzzy set A
Let x
that

le ex ðxÞ ¼ Ae x
e x ¼ fðu; zÞju 2 I; z ¼ A
where A e x ðuÞ 2 Ig; A
e x ðuÞ ¼ l
e 2 ðx; uÞ.
e
x
102 H. Mo et al. / Information Sciences 272 (2014) 96–110

Table 1
Comparisons of the definitions of T2 FS.

Definition Primary MF Footprint of uncertainty Second MF

Zadeh e : X ! II
x e 1 : X ! fIg
l g ¼XI
FOU g !I
e 2 : FOU
l
e
x e
x
Mizumoto J b 1 : X ! fJg
b :X!I
x l b
d ¼XJ
FOU d !I
b 2 : FOU
l
x b
x
Mendel x : X ! E1 1
lx : X ! E2 FOU ¼ E3 2
lx : FOU ! I

Fig. 3. FOU and the support sets of second membership function of a T2 FS.

e x is J , i.e.,
For every x 2 X, the support set of A x

e x ðuÞ > 0g
J x ¼ fuju 2 I; A
e x , where
For every x 2 X, there is a Ax corresponds to A

e x ðuÞg
Ax ¼ fðx; u; zÞju 2 I; z ¼ A
e at x, and lx is the support set of Ax , also the support set of l
Ax is called the membership function of x e 2 ðx; uÞ at x, i.e.,
e
x

lx ¼ fðx; uÞju 2 I; Ax ðuÞ > 0g ¼ fðx; uÞju 2 I; l

e 2 ðx; uÞ > 0g
e
x

For example, in Fig. 3, at every xi , the corresponding membership function of x is Axi , and the support set of Axi is lxi , where
i 2 f1; 2; 3; 4g. Obviously, lxi ¼ x  J xi .
From the upper discussion, we have the following conclusion.

Proposition 4. FOU is the union of the support set of the second membership function at every x 2 X, i.e.,
[
FOUðxÞ ¼ lx ¼ fðx; uÞjx 2 X; u 2 I; l
e 2 ðx; uÞ > 0g
e
x
x2X

g  FOUðxÞ, then
Let T ¼ FOU
(
e2
l2x ðx; uÞ; ðx; uÞ 2 FOUðxÞ
l xe ðx; uÞ ¼
0; ðx; uÞ 2 T

Specially, if x is an interval T2 FS, then


1; ðx; uÞ 2 FOUðxÞ
le 2xe ðx; uÞ ¼
0; ðx; uÞ 2 T
e;x
In the paper, x b ; x are T2 FS by Zadeh, Mizumoto and Mendel respectively (the same below).
 H. Mo et al. / Information Sciences 272 (2014) 96–110 103

6. Representation of FOU

The representation for the new FOU is concerned with the primary membership grade, because for different points, the
primary membership grades may be different. If UMF and LMF are given, the partition method of FOU is provided to
represent the primary membership grade J x , FOU and the discrete, half discrete and continuous IT2 FSs respectively.

6.1. Continuous IT2 FS

Let x1 be a continuous T2 FS on X ¼ ½a; b. LMF and UMF of FOUðx1 Þ are piecewise functions, expressed as
8
>
> f1 ðxÞ; x 2 ½a0 ; a1 
>
>
>
> .. ...
>
>
<.
l1x1 ¼ fkþ1 ðxÞ; x 2 ðak ; akþ1 
>
>
>
> . ..
>
> .. .
>
>
:
fn ðxÞ; x 2 ðan1 ; an 
where a ¼ a0 6 a1 6 . . . 6 ak 6 akþ1 6 . . . 6 an1 6 an ¼ b; f i ðxÞ – f j ðxÞ; i; j 2 f1; 2;    ; ng.
8
>
> g 1 ðxÞ; x 2 ½b0 ; b1 
>
>
>
> .. ..
>
>
<. .
l1x1 ¼ g kþ1 ðxÞ; x 2 ðbk ; bkþ1 
>
>
>
>
>
> ... ..
.
>
>
:
g m ðxÞ; x 2 ðbm1 ; bm 
where a ¼ b0 6 b1 6    6 bk 6 bkþ1 6    6 bm1 6 bm ¼ b; g i ðxÞ – g j ðxÞ; i; j 2 f1; 2; . . . ; mg, and m; n are positive numbers.
Let
[
fa0 ; . . . ; an g fb0 ; . . . ; bm g ¼ fc0 ; . . . ; ck ; . . . ; cnþm1 g

where ck 6 ckþ1 .
Let every line segment which contains one of the points cj ; j 2 f1; 2; . . . ; k; . . . ; n þ m  1g parallel to the u-axis. All the line
segments partition FOUðx1 Þ into at most m þ n  1 subregions D1 ; . . . ; Dk ; . . . ; Dmþn1 (or some line segments whose primary
membership grades are zero), and for every Dk , the primary membership grade J x has the same function expression, and the
method is called partition of FOUðx1 Þ.
After FOUðx1 Þ is partitioned, for every Dk ; 1 6 k 6 m þ n  1, LMF and UMF have the same analytical expressions respec-
tively, then the primary membership grade can be written as follows:
8
>
> ½g 1 ðxÞ; f1 ðxÞ; x 2 ½c0 ; c1 
>
>
>
> . ..
> ..
>
< .
Jx ¼ ½g i ðxÞ; fj ðxÞ; x 2 ðci ; ciþ1 
>
>
>
> . ..
>
> .. .
>
>
:
½g m ðxÞ; fn ðxÞ; x 2 ðcmþn2 ; cmþn1 
That is to say, when x 2 ðci ; ciþ1 , the corresponding primary membership grade is ½g i ðxÞ; fj ðxÞ. By (3) or (4), it is not difficult
to obtain the representation of FOUðx1 Þ as follows:
[ [ [
FOUðx1 Þ ¼ x  ½g 1 ðxÞ; f1 ðxÞ þ    þ x  ½g i ðxÞ; fj ðxÞ þ    þ x  ½g m ðxÞ; fn ðxÞ
x2½c0 ;c1  x2½ci ;ciþ1  x2½cnþm2 ;cnþm1 

where + denotes union (the same as follows). Then the corresponding IT2 FS x1 can be represented as follows:
Z Z Z Z Z Z
1 1 1
x1 ¼ þ  þ þ  þ
x2½c0 ;c1  u2½g 1 ðxÞ;f1 ðxÞ ðx; uÞ x2½ci ;ciþ1  u2½g i ðxÞ;fj ðxÞ ðx; uÞ x2½cnþm2 ;cnþm1  u2½g m ðxÞ;fn ðxÞ ðx; uÞ

From Zadeh’s definition, for every element x 2 X, its primary membership grade is I, so the footprint of uncertainty is
g x1 Þ ¼ X  I. Then the corresponding T2 FS is
FOUð
(
x1 ; ðu; xÞ 2 FOUðx1 Þ
f1 ¼
x RR 0
ðx;uÞ2T ðx;uÞ
; ðx; uÞ 2 T
g x1 Þ  FOUðx1 Þ.
where T ¼ FOUð
104 H. Mo et al. / Information Sciences 272 (2014) 96–110

e,
In order to differentiate the definitions of T2 FS, in the following discussion, we will write the T2 FS defined by Zadeh as x
write the T2 FS defined by Mendel as x.

Example 1. Let x1 be an interval T2 FS on X ¼ ½0; 1, and FOUðx1 Þ is shown in Fig. 4. UMF, LMF of FOUðx1 Þ are defined as
follows:
8
> 5x  1; x 2 ½0:2; 0:4
>
>
< 1; x 2 ð0:4; 0:7
l1x1 ¼
>
> 4:5  5x; x 2 ð0:7; 0:9
>
:
0; others
8
> 3x  0:9; x 2 ½0:3; 0:5
>
>
< 0:6; x 2 ð0:5; 0:6
l1x1 ¼
> 2:4  3x;
> x 2 ð0:6; 0:8
>
:
0; others
In Fig. 4, FOUðx1 Þ is partitioned into seven parts D1 ; . . . ; D7 by six line segments which are parallel to u-axis and thur
0:3; . . . ; 0:8. We can see that D1 ; . . . ; D7 have different LMF or UMF. Then the representation of primary membership function
can be written as follows:
8
> ½0; 5x  1; x 2 ½0:2; 0:3
>
>
>
> ½3x  0:9; 5x  1; x 2 ð0:3; 0:4
>
>
>
>
>
> ½3x  0:9; 1; x 2 ð0:4; 0:5
>
>
< ½0:6; 1; x 2 ð0:5; 0:6
Jx ¼
>
> ½2:4  3x; 1; x 2 ð0:6; 0:7
>
>
>
> ½2:4  3x; 4:5  5x; x 2 ð0:7; 0:8
>
>
>
>
>
> ½0; 4:5  5x; x 2 ð0:8; 0:9
>
:
0; others
By the new FOU, then
[
FOUðx1 Þ ¼ x  Jx
x2X
[ [ [ [
¼ x  ½0; 5x  1 þ x  ½3x  0:9; 5x  1 þ x  ½3x  0:9; 1 þ x  ½0:6; 1
x2½0:2;0:3 x2ð0:3;0:4 x2ð0:4;0:5 x2ð0:5;0:6
[ [ [
þ x  ½2:4  3x; 1 þ x  ½2:4  3x; 4:5  5x þ x  ½0; 4:5  5x þ ½0; 0:2Þ  0 þ ð0:9; 1
x2ð0:6;0:7 x2ð0:7;0:8 x2ð0:8;0:9

0

0.9

0.8
D3 D D5
4
0.7

0.6
μω(x)

0.5
1

0.4
D2 D6

0.3

0.2

0.1
D1 D
7
0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
x

Fig. 4. Partition of FOU.

 H. Mo et al. / Information Sciences 272 (2014) 96–110 105

From the representation, the new FOU contains two coordinates, one corresponds to the universe, and the other is the
primary membership grade, and is consistent with Fig. 4. The corresponding IT2 FS is
Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z
1 1 1 1
x1 ¼ þ þ þ
x2½0;0:2 u¼0 ðx; uÞ x2ð0:2;0:3 u2½0;5x1 ðx; uÞ x2ð0:3;0:4 u2½3x9;5x1 ðx; uÞ x2ð0:4;0:5 u2½3x9;1 ðx; uÞ
Z Z Z Z Z Z
1 1 1
þ þ þ
x2ð0:5;0:6 u2½0:6;1 ðx; uÞ x2ð0:6;0:7 u2½2:43x;1 ðx; uÞ x2ð0:7;0:8 u2½2:43x;4:55x ðx; uÞ
Z Z Z Z
1 1
þ þ
x2ð0:8;0:9 u2½0;4:55x ðx; uÞ x2ð0:9;1 u¼0 ðx; uÞ

If by (1), its FOU is

( ) ( ) ( )
[ [ [ [ [ [ [ [
FOUðx1 Þ ¼ Jx ¼ ½0;5x1 ½3x0:9;5x1 ½3x0:9;1 ½0:6;1
x2X x2½0:2;0:3 x2ð0:3;0:4 x2ð0:4;0:5 x2ð0:5;0:6
( ) ( ) ( )
[ [ [ [ [ [ [
½2:43x;1 ½2:43x;4:55x ½0;4:55x f0g ¼ ½0;1
x2ð0:6;0:7 x2ð0:7;0:8 x2ð0:8;0:9

That is to say, FOUðx1 Þ is an unit interval, which is in conflict with Fig. 4.

g ¼ I  I, and IT2 FS can be represented
By Zadeh’s definition, for every x 2 X, the primary membership grade is I, and FOU
as follows:
ZZ
0
f1 ¼ x1 þ
x
ðx;uÞ2T ðx; uÞ
g x1 Þ  FOUðx1 Þ is the blank area in Fig. 4.
where T ¼ FOUð

6.2. Discrete IT2 FS

Let x2 be a discrete IT2 FS on X ¼ fx1 ; . . . ; xk ; . . . ; xn g, and by Mendel’s definition, the primary membership grade can be
expressed as
8
> fu11 ; . . . ; u1k ; . . . ; u1m1 g; x ¼ x1
>
>
>
> .. ..
>
>
<.
> .
J x ¼ fui1 ; . . . ; uik ; . . . ; uimi g; x ¼ xi
>
>
>
>
>
> ... ...
>
>
:
fun1 ; . . . ; unk ; . . . ; unmi g; x ¼ xn
That is to say, when x ¼ xi , its primary membership grade is fui1 ; . . . ; uik ;    ; uimi g, where i ¼ 1; . . . ; n, then the new FOU
can be written as
X mi
n X
uij
FOUðx2 Þ ¼
i¼1 j¼1
xi

It can also be written as

[ mi
n [
FOUðx2 Þ ¼ fðxi ; uij Þg
i¼1 j¼1

The representation of the discrete IT2 FS is as follows:

X mi 1
n X
uij
x2 ¼
i¼1 j¼1
xi

By Zadeh’s definition, the primary membership grades of every T2 FS at any point are all I, and the footprint of
uncertainty
X
n
½0; 1
g x
FOUð f2 Þ ¼
i¼1
xi

then the corresponding discrete IT2 FS can be represented as

106 H. Mo et al. / Information Sciences 272 (2014) 96–110

0
X
n X
mn
ðuij ;uiðjþ1Þ Þ X
n 0
þ0
f2 ¼ x2 þ 0 1
x þ
i¼1 j¼0
xi i¼1
xi

where ui0 ¼ 0; uiðmn þ1Þ ¼ 1.

Example 2. Let X ¼ f2; 4; 6g; x2 is an interval T2 FS on X, and by Mendel’s definition, the primary membership grades are as
depicted in Fig. 5.
The primary membership grade can be written as
8
< f0:4; 0:6g; x ¼ 2
>
J x ¼ f0:7; 0:9g; x ¼ 4
>
:
f0:3; 0:5g; x ¼ 6
Then by the new FOU,
0:4 0:6 0:7 0:9 0:3 0:5
FOUðx2 Þ ¼ þ þ þ þ þ
2 2 4 4 6 6
or
FOUðx2 Þ ¼ fð2; 0:4Þ; ð2; 0:6Þ; ð4; 0:7Þ; ð4; 0:9Þ; ð6; 0:3Þ; ð6; 0:5Þg
Then the corresponding x2 can be written as
1 1 1 1 1 1
x2 ¼ 0:4 þ 0:6 þ 0:7 þ 0:9 þ 0:3 þ 0:5
2 2 4 4 6 6
or
x2 ¼ fð2; 0:4; 1Þ; ð2; 0:6; 1Þ; ð4; 0:7; 1Þ; ð4; 0:9; 1Þ; ð6; 0:3; 1Þ; ð6; 0:5; 1Þg
By the new definition, FOUðx2 Þ consists of six points, and every point contains two coordinates, which is consistent with
Fig. 5, and the corresponding IT2 FS x is not difficult to obtain.
If by (1), then
FOUðx2 Þ ¼ f0:4; 0:6; 0:7; 0:9; 0:3; 0:5g
We can see, by Mendel’s definition, every point of FOUðx2 Þ contains one coordinate which is different with Fig. 5.
By Zadeh’s definition, for every x 2 X, the primary membership grade is I, and the footprint of uncertainty is

g x ½0; 1 ½0; 1 ½0; 1

FOUð f2 Þ ¼ þ þ
2 4 6
then the corresponding IT2 FS is

Fig. 5. FOU of a discrete T2 FS.

 H. Mo et al. / Information Sciences 272 (2014) 96–110 107

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
þ ð0:4;0:6Þ þ ð0:6;1 þ ð0:7;0:9Þ þ ð0:9;1 þ ð0:3;0:5Þ þ ð0:5;1
e ¼ x þ ½0;0:4Þ
x þ
½0;0:7Þ
þ
½0;0:3Þ
2 4 6
That is to say a discrete IT2 FS x defined by Mendel only consists of some points, if defined by Zadeh, the same discrete
e not only contains these points, but also contains some lines of X  I.
IT2 FS x

6.3. Half discrete IT2 FS

If X ¼ fx1 ; . . . ; xk ; . . . ; xn g is discrete, and x3 is a half discrete IT2 FS on X, and the primary membership grade can be ex-
pressed as
8
>
> ½c1 ; d1 ; x ¼ x1
>
>
>
> .. ..
>
>
<. .
Jx ¼ ½ci ; di ; x ¼ xi
>
>
>
> .. ..
>
>
>.
>
.
:
½cn ; dn ; x ¼ xn
That is to say, when x ¼ xi , the corresponding primary membership grade is ½ci ; di , where i ¼ 1; . . . ; n, then the corre-
sponding FOUðx3 Þ and the half discrete IT2 FS can be written as follows:
X
n
½ci ; di 
FOUðx3 Þ ¼
i¼1
xi

X
n 1
½c ;d 
x3 ¼ i i

i¼1
xi

However, for any half discrete IT2 FS, by Zadeh’s definition,

X
n
½0; 1
g x
FOUð f3 Þ ¼
i¼1
xi

and then the half discrete IT2 FS can be represented as

0
X
n
½0;c Þ
þ ðd0;1
f3 ¼ x3 þ
x i i

i¼1
xi

Example 3. Let x3 be a half discrete IT2 FS on X ¼ f3; 5; 7; 9g, and by Mendel’s definition, its primary membership function
is demonstrated in Fig. 6.
8
> ½0:3; 0:5; x¼3
>
>
< ½0:6; 0:8; x¼5
Jx ¼
>
> ½0:5; 0:7; x¼7
>
:
½0:2; 0:4; x¼9
By (3), the representation of new FOU is

½0:3; 0:5 ½0:6; 0:8 ½0:5; 0:7 ½0:2; 0:4

FOUðx3 Þ ¼ þ þ þ
3 5 7 9
The representation of IT2 FS can easily written as follows:
1 1 1 1
x3 ¼ ½0:3;0:5 þ ½0:6;0:8 þ ½0:5;0:7 þ ½0:2;0:4
3 5 7 9
x3 consists of several lines paralleling to the plain X  I and its projection to X  I is FOUðx3 Þ. If by (1),
FOUðx3 Þ ¼ ½0:2; 0:9
It is obvious that FOUðx3 Þ defined by Mendel is not the same with Fig. 6.
By Zadeh’s definition, and the footprint of uncertainty is

g x ½0; 1 ½0; 1 ½0; 1 ½0; 1

FOUð f3 Þ ¼ þ þ þ
3 5 7 9
108 H. Mo et al. / Information Sciences 272 (2014) 96–110

Fig. 6. FOU of a half discrete T2 FS.

and the corresponding half discrete IT2 FS can be represented as

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
þ ð0:5;1 þ ð0:8;1 þ ð0:7;1 þ ð0:4;1
f3 ¼ x3 þ ½0;0:3Þ
x þ
½0;0:6Þ
þ
½0;0:5Þ
þ
½0;0:2Þ
3 5 7 9
f3 defined by Zadeh contains x3 defined by Mendel.
i.e., x
From these examples, the new FOUs are two-dimensional subsets and is consistent with the corresponding figures. For
any other T2 FS, it can be decomposed into one or several of the three types.

7. Conclusions

In the paper, new definitions of T2 FS are presented to make it easy to be understood. T2 FS is defined by two steps: first,
the primary membership function, and then the secondary membership function. Based on the new definition, T2 FS’s
definitions by Zadeh, Mizumoto and Mendel are converted into their new forms. And the partition method of new FOU is
provided to represent the primary membership grade, new FOU and the corresponding IT2 FS. Finally, the relationship
between new FOU and the secondary membership function is discussed, and it will help us to use FOU or IT2 FS in
computation, inference and application directly.
New definitions can help us to understand T2 FS and the relative definitions more clearly. And, in future T2 FS will be used
to analyze linguistic dynamic systems [45,46,61] and their relative characteristics.

Acknowledgments

The authors are very thankful to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions, to Long Chen
from University of Macau and Chengdong Li from Shandong Jianzhu University for their suggestions to improve the paper.
This project is supported by Nature Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61074903, 61233008, 61074018), open Project of State
Key Laboratory of Management and Control for Complex Systems, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Science (No.
20110101), Youth Talent Support Plan of Changsha University of Science and Technology.

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