Algebraic Techniques and Their Use in Describing and Processing Uncertainty

This book discusses heuristic methods – methods lacking a solid theoretical justification – which are ubiquitous in numerous application areas, and explains techniques that can make heuristic methods more reliable. Focusing on algebraic techniques, i.e., those that use only a few specific features of a situation, it describes various state-of-the-art applications, ranging from fuzzy methods for dealing with imprecision to general optimization methods and quantum-based methods for analyzing econo