Multicriteria decision making approach using an efficient novel similarity measure for generalized trapezoidal fuzzy numbers

Abstract

Multicriteria Decision Making (MCDM) has a huge role to play while ruling out one suitable alternative among a pool of alternatives governed by predefined multiple criteria. Some of the factors like imprecision, lack of information/data, etc., which are present in traditional MCDM processes have showcased their lack of efficiency and hence eventually it has paved the ways for the development of Fuzzy multicriteria decision making (FMCDM). In FMCDM processes, the decision makers can model most of the real-life phenomena by fuzzy information-based preferences. The availability of a wide literature on similarity measure (SM) emphasizes the vital role of SM of generalized fuzzy numbers (GFNs) to conduct accurate and precise decision making in FMCDM problems. Despite having few advantages, most of the existing approaches possessed a certain degree of counter intuitiveness and discrepancies. Thus, we have attempted to propose a novel SM for generalized trapezoidal fuzzy numbers (GTrFNs) which could deliberately overcome the impediments associated with the earlier existing approaches. Moreover, a meticulous comparative study with the existing approaches is also presented. This paper provides us with an improved method to obtain the similarity values between GTrFNs and the proposed SM consists of calculating the prominent features of fuzzy numbers such as expected value and variance. We use fourteen different sets of GTrFNs, to compare the fruition of the present approach with the existing SM approaches. Furthermore, to show the utility and applicability of our proposed measure, we illustrate few practical scenarios such as the launching of an electronic gadget by a company, a problem of medical diagnosis and finally, a proper anti-virus mask selection in light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The obtained results with our proposed SM, for the mentioned FMCDM problems, are analytically correct and they depict the efficiency and novelty of the present article.