There are many uncertainties in the real world. Fuzzy theory treats a kind of uncertainty called fuzziness, where it shows that the boundary of yes or no is ambiguous and appears in the meaning of words or is included in the subjunctives or recognition of human beings. Fuzzy theory is essential and is applicable to many systems -- from consumer products like washing machines or refrigerators to big systems like trains or subways. Recently, fuzzy theory has been a strong tool for combining new theories (called soft computing) such as genetic algorithms or neural networks to get knowledge from real data.

This introductory book enables the reader to understand easily what fuzziness is and how one can apply fuzzy theory to real problems -- which explains why it was a best-seller in Japan.