2 L. D’eer et al. / Fuzzy Sets and Systems 275 (2015) 1–38
concept. In the original model of Pawlak, an equivalence relation is used to model indiscernibility. Yet, many authors
have generalized Pawlak’s model by using binary non-equivalence relations (see e.g. [48,49] for a survey).
Applications of rough set theory are widespread and are especially prominent in data analysis [33,35] and more
specific in feature selection and classification [53]. Ho
wever, since the traditional rough set is designed to process
qualitative (discrete) data, it faces important limitations when dealing with real-valued data sets [31]. Fuzzy set theory
proposed in 1965 by Zadeh [68] is ve
ry useful to overcome these limitations, as it can deal effectively with vague
concepts and graded indiscernibility.
It wa
s recognized early that both theories are complementary, rather than competitive. To that end, rough set theory
has been extended in two ways [14]. Rough fuzzy set theory discusses the approximation of a fuzzy set by a crisp
relation. If moreover the indiscernibility relation to distinguish different objects is fuzzy as well, fuzzy rough set
theory is considered. Since ev
ery crisp relation can be seen as a special case of a fuzzy relation, all results obtained in
fuzzy rough set theory also hold for rough fuzzy set theory.
The v
estiges of fuzzy rough set theory date back to the late 1980s, and originate from work by Fariñas del Cerro
and Prade [12], Dubois and Prade [13], Nakamura [45] and Wygralak [62]. From 1990 onwards, research on the
hybridization between rough sets and fuzzy sets flourished. The inspiration to combine rough and fuzzy set theory wa
s
found in different mathematical fields. For instance, Lin [34] studied fuzzy rough sets using generalized topological
spaces (Frechet spaces) and Nanda and Majumdar [46] discussed fuzzy rough sets based on an algebraic approach.
Moreover, Thiele [54] examined the relationship with fuzzy modal logic. Later on, Yao [66] and Liu [39] used le
vel
sets to combine fuzzy and rough set theory.
This wo
rk focuses on fuzzy rough set models using fuzzy relations and fuzzy logical connectives. The semi-
nal papers of Dubois and Prade [14,15] are probably the most important in the evolution of these fuzzy rough set
models, since they influenced numerous authors who used different fuzzy logical connectives and fuzzy relations.
Essential wo
rk was done by Morsi and Yakout [44] who studied both constructive and axiomatic approaches and by
Radzikowska and Kerre [51] who defined fuzzy rough sets based on three general classes of fuzzy implicators: S-, R-
and QL-implicators. However, despite generalizing the fuzzy connectives, they still used fuzzy similarity relations.
A first attempt to use refle
xive fuzzy relations instead of fuzzy similarity relations was done by Greco et al. [22,23].
Thereafter, Wu et al. [60,61] were the first to consider general fuzzy relations. Besides generalizing the fuzzy relation,
Mi et al. [40,41] considered conjunctors instead of t-norms. Furthermore, Yeung et al. [67] discussed two pairs of dual
approximation operators from both a constructi
ve and an axiomatic point of view. Hu et al. [26,28] for their part stud-
ied fuzzy relations based on kernel functions. In this work, we consider all these different proposals within a general
Implicator–Conjunctor (IC) based fuzzy rough set model that encapsulates all of them, as discussed in Section 3.1.
However, the aforementioned models only consider the wo
rst and best performing objects to determine the fuzzy
rough lower and upper approximations respectively. Consequently, these approximations are sensitive to noisy and/or
outlying samples. This, in turn, impacts the robustness of data analysis applications based on them, such as attribute
selection and classification. To mitig
ate this problem in the crisp case, Ziarko [70] proposed the Variable Precision
Rough Set (VPRS) model in 1993. This model also served as a starting point for the design of several noise-tolerant
fuzzy rough set approaches, such as [5,7,17,18,24,25,42,43,65,69], which will be discussed in detail in Section 4.
In this paper
, we critically evaluate most relevant fuzzy rough set models proposed in the literature. To this end,
we establish a formally correct and unified mathematical framework for them. A structured and critical analysis of
the current research of constructive methods for fuzzy rough set models is presented. Note that we do not consider
axiomatic approaches (see e.g. [36,37,41,44,50,59–61,67]). We re
view the definitions of noise-tolerant models, gen-
eralizing them where appropriate and in some cases applying modifications to correct errors in the original proposal.
Where applicable, we also establish relationships between these models and the corresponding IC based definitions,
as well as Paw
lak’s and Ziarko’s crisp approaches. Furthermore, we examine which theoretical properties of tradi-
tional rough sets and IC fuzzy rough sets can still be maintained for the noise-tolerant models; indeed, similarly as for
Ziarko’s VPRS model, providing mechanisms for making the approximations less strict usually involves sacrificing
some desirable properties. Finally
, we evaluate whether the considered approaches really live up to the claim of being
more “robust” approximations, by performing a stability analysis on four real datasets, and comparing them to the IC
model. This will allow us to obtain a comprehensive overview of the benefits and the drawbacks of the rob
ust fuzzy
rough set models, in order to acquire the expertise for future research opportunities.
The remainder of this article is structured as follo
ws: in Section 2, we summarize preliminary definitions concerning
fuzzy logical connectives, fuzzy sets and relations, and rough set theory. In Section 3, we introduce the general IC