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We introduce basic notions related to granular computing, namely the information granule syntax and semantics as well as the inclusion and closeness (similarity) relations of granules. Different information sources (units, agents) are equipped with two kinds of operations on information granules: operations transforming tuples of information granules definable by a given agent into information granules definable by this agent and approximation operations for computing by agents approximations of information granules delivered by other agents. More complex granules are constructed by means of these operations and approximation operations from some input information granules. The construction of information granules is described by expressions called terms. We discuss a problem of synthesis of robust terms, i.e., descriptions of information granules, satisfying a given specification. This is an important problem for granular computing and its applications for spatial reasoning or knowledge discovery and data mining. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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