Quantum computation techniques for gauging reliability of interval and fuzzy data

• Published in: International journal of general systems Vol. 40; no. 1; pp. 99 - 109
• Main Authors: Longpré, Luc, Servin, Christian, Kreinovich, Vladik
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis Group 01-01-2011; Taylor & Francis LLC
• Subjects: Algorithms; Computation; data reliability; Estimates; Fuzzy; Fuzzy logic; Fuzzy set theory; Fuzzy sets; fuzzy uncertainty; Gaging; Gauging; interval uncertainty; Intervals; Mathematical problems; Measuring instruments; quantum computation; Quantum physics; Reliability; Uncertainty
• ISSN: 0308-1079; 1563-5104
• DOI: 10.1080/03081079.2010.510247

In traditional interval computations, we assume that the interval data correspond to guaranteed interval bounds, and that fuzzy estimates provided by experts are correct. In practice, measuring instruments are not 100% reliable, and experts are not 100% reliable, we may have estimates which are 'way off', intervals which do not contain the actual values at all. Usually, we know the percentage of such outlier un-reliable measurements. However, it is desirable to check that the reliability of the actual data is indeed within the given percentage. The problem of checking (gauging) this reliability is, in general, NP-hard; in reasonable cases, there exist feasible algorithms for solving this problem. In this paper, we show that quantum computation techniques can drastically speed up the computation of reliability of the given data.