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Article: Fuzzy logic = clear opportunity: what do a 6th-century "philosopher poet" and artificial intelligence have to do with better controls and fault detection? Take a quick primer in fuzzy logic and soon enough, the potential for building automation will come into crisp focus.
- Article from:
- Engineered Systems
- Article date:
- October 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 BNP Media. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The next sentence is true. But the previous sentence is false.
Epimenides of Knossos (Crete) was a semi-mythical philosopher-poet from the 6th century. One day, in a fit of poetic inspiration, it is said that he proclaimed, "All Cretans are liars!" Being a Cretan himself, he is remembered to this day for the Cretan paradox.
In Aristotelian logic, where something cannot be both true and false at the same time, these self-negating statements cannot be reconciled. If they are true, then they are false, but if they are false, then they are true.
Enter fuzzy logic, a calculus that allows variables to have partial membership in a set. True and false ...