A new linguistic computational model based on discrete fuzzy numbers for computing with words

In recent years, several different linguistic computational models for dealing with linguistic information in processes of computing with words have been proposed. However, until now all of them rely on the special semantics of the linguistic terms, usually fuzzy numbers in the unit interval, and the linguistic aggregation operators are based on aggregation operators in [0,1]. In this paper, a linguistic computational model based on discrete fuzzy numbers whose support is a subset of consecutive natural numbers is presented ensuring the accuracy and consistency of the model. In this framework, no underlying membership functions are needed and several aggregation operators defined on the set of all discrete fuzzy numbers are presented. These aggregation operators are constructed from aggregation operators defined on a finite chain in accordance with the granularity of the linguistic term set. Finally, an example of a multi-expert decision-making problem in a hierarchical multi-granular linguistic context is given to illustrate the applicability of the proposed method and its advantages. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.