Grey Information: Theory and Practical Applications

Citation

mult., D.h.c. (2011), "Grey Information: Theory and Practical Applications", Grey Systems: Theory and Application, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 105-106. https://doi.org/10.1108/gs.2011.1.1.105.1

With human knowledge maturing and scientific exploration deepening and largely expanding in the course of time, mankind finally realizes the fundamental fact that due to both internal and external disturbances and limitations of human and technical sensing organs, all information received or collected contains some kind of uncertainty. Accompanying the progress of science and technology and the aforementioned realization, our understanding about various kinds of uncertainties has gradually been deepened. Attesting to this end, in the second half of the twentieth century, the continual appearance of several influential and different types of theories and methods on unascertained systems and information has become a major aspect of the modern world of learning. Each of these new theories was initiated and followed‐up by some of the best minds of our modern time.

In their recent book, entitled Grey Information: Theory and Practical Applications, published in its traditionally excellent way by Springer, Professors Sifeng Liu and Yi Lin presented in a systematic fashion the theory of grey systems, which was first proposed by J.L. Deng in the early 1980s and enthusiastically supported by hundreds of scientists and practitioners in the following years. Based on the hard work of these scholars in the past (nearly) 30 years, scholars from many countries currently are studying and working on the theory and various applications of this fruitful scientific endeavor. With this book published by such a prestigious leading publisher of the world, it can be expected that more scientific workers from different parts of the world will soon join hands and together make grey systems and information a powerful theory capable of bringing forward practically beneficial impacts to the advancement of the human society.

This book focuses on the study of such unascertained systems that are known with small samples or “poor information.” Different of all other relevant theories on uncertainties, this work introduces a system of many methods on how to deal with grey information. Starting off with a brief historical introduction, this book carries the reader through all the basics of the theory. And, each important method studied is accompanied with a real‐life project the authors were involved in during their professional careers.

Many of the methods and techniques the reader will learn in this book were originally introduced by the authors. They show how from our knowledge based on partially and poorly known information can be obtained to accurate descriptions and effective controls of the systems of interest. Because this book shows how the theory of grey systems and information was established and how each method could be practically applied, this book can easily be used as a reference by scholars who are interested in either theoretical exploration or practical applications or both. I recommend this book highly to anyone who has either a desire or a need to learn.