Ordering fuzzy numbers with application to fuzzy linear programming

Abstract

We present an approach for ordering fuzzy numbers, then we utilize it to suggest two models for solving the fuzzy linear programming (FLP) problem. In this research we present a new approach for ordering two fuzzy numbers and show some practical advantages of it over other methods. We also utilize the suggested approach to introduce two techniques to solve the FLP problem. In the first technique, we convert the fuzzy linear program into a crisp bicriteria linear program. In this new model the fuzzy objective function is replaced by two crisp objectives to be optimized, and each fuzzy constraint is replaced by two or three crisp constraints depending on the level of certainty /spl alpha/-whether /spl alpha/ has or has not been assigned. In the second technique we find the possibility distribution of the objective function over all possible feasible decisions directly.