A POTENTIAL OF FUZZY RELATIONS WITH A LINEAR STRUCTURE : THE CONTRACTIVE CASE(MATHEMATICAL OPTIMIZATION AND ITS APPLICATIONS)

Abstract In this paper we develop a potential theory of fuzzy relations on the positive orthant in a Euclidean space. By introducing a linear structure for fuzzy relations, the existence of a potential and its characterization by fuzzy relational equation are derived under the assumption of contraction and compactness. In the one-dimensional unimodal case, a potential is given explicity. Also, a numerical example is shown to illustrate our approaches.