A survey of grey systems applied to multi-objective problem

Abstract

Decision-making processes involve a series of steps: identifying the problems, constructing the preferences, evaluating the alternatives, and determining the best alternatives (Simon, The new science of management decision. In: Proceedings of the 33rd Conference of theOperational Research Society of New Zealand, Citeseer, 1960). Using amulti-criteria decisionmaking approach, the grey systemtheory has been used to capture the complexity inherent in selection process. The grey system theory proposed by Deng (J. Grey Syst. 1(1), 1-24 1989) is based on the assumption that a system is uncertain and that the information regarding the systemis insufficient to build a relational analysis or to construct a model to characterize the system. The aim of this chapter is to provide a short review of the three mostly seen research methods employed for the investigation of uncertain systems: probability and statistics, fuzzymathematics and grey systems theory. This chapter provides a short review of the general framework, current research trends and future research topics on grey systems applied to decision problems.