Soft Computing for Complex Multiple Criteria Decision Making

"Daprima importa sappere di che cosa si tratta." ("The ?rst thing is to know what the talk is about".) Attributed to Vilfredo Pareto. This book results from my continuous and deep interest in multiple criteria decision making (MCDM). Eleven years ago I wrote in my p- vious monograph: "This work results from my interest in the ?eld of vector optimization. I stumbled ?rst upon this subject in 1982 [ ... ]. I was attracted then by a gap between vector optimization used to serve as a formal model for multiple objective decision problems and the - cision problems themselves, the gap nonexistent in scalar optimization. Roughly speaking, vector optimization provides methods for ranking - cisions according to a partial order whereas decision making requires a linear ordering of decisions." This declaration is still valid and nothing needs to be changed. To be more speci?c, this book is a fruit of my dissatisfaction with the current state-of-the-art of MCDM. MCDM is a branch of science, whose declared ultimate goal is to provide practical tools. However, we cannot say, and this is regrettable, that all present MCDM methods and algorithms are in popular use by those who make complex decisions and for that purpose are in need of methodological or computational support.

A concise presentation of the MCDM field is provided by prototyping MCDM methodologies to two classes. On that basis, an approximate, soft computation approach to MCDM is outlined The wider, more functional approach is built around both formal and intuitive developments in MCDM Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Klappentext

There are numerous books on Multiple Criteria Decision Making. Soft Computing for Complex Multiple Criteria Decision Making concentrates on providing technical (meaning formal, mathematical, algorithmical) tools to make the user of Multiple Criteria Decision Making methodologies independent of bulky optimization computations. These bulky computations up to now have been a necessary, but limiting, characteristic of interactive MCDM methodologies and algorithms. This book removes these limitations of MCDM problems by reducing a problem's computational complexity. The book systematically applies the approximate - soft - treatments to major MCDM solving methodologies. As a result, it provides a wider and more functional general framework for presenting, teaching, implementing and applying a wide range of MCDM methodologies. The book seeks to provide a stimulus for a broader development and application of MCDM methods.

Inhalt
Preliminaries.- MCDM - Basic Tools.- MCDM Interactive Methods - An Overview.- Universal MCDM Interface.- Generic Interactive MCDM Support Scheme.- Bounds on Outcome Components.- Bounds on Global Trade-Offs.- Soft Computing for Complex MCDM Problems.