ResearchArticle
Multifuzzy Cubic Sets and Their Correlation Coefficients for
Multicriteria Group Decision-Making
Jun Ye , Shigui Du, and Rui Yong
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
CorrespondenceshouldbeaddressedtoJunYe;yejun1@nbu.edu.cn
Received 12 January 2021; Revised 28 January 2021; Accepted 1 February 2021; Published 18 February 2021
AcademicEditor:HarishGarg
Copyright©2021JunYeetal.isisanopenaccessarticledistributedundertheCreativeCommonsAttributionLicense,which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
e notion of multifuzzy sets (MFSs) or multi-interval-valued fuzzy sets (MIVFSs) provides a new method to represent some
problemswithasequenceofthedifferentand/orsamefuzzy/interval-valuedfuzzymembershipvaluesofanelementtotheset.
en,afuzzycubicset(FCS)consistsofacertainpart(afuzzyvalue)andanuncertainpart(aninterval-valuedfuzzyvalue)but
cannot represent hybrid information of both MFS and MIVFS. To adequately depict the opinion of several experts/decision-
makersbyusingaunion/sequenceofthedifferentand/orsamefuzzycubicvaluesforanobjectassessedingroupdecision-making
(GDM)problems,thispaperproposesamultifuzzycubicset(MFCS)notionastheconceptualextensionofFCStoexpressthe
hybrid information of both MFS and MIVFS in the fuzzy setting of both uncertainty and certainty. en, we propose three
correlationcoefficientsofMFCSsandthenintroducecorrelationcoefficientsofMFSsandMIVFSsasspecialcasesofthethree
correlation coefficients of MFCSs. Further, the multicriteria GDM methods using three weighted correlation coefficients of
MFCSs are developed under the environment of MFCSs, which contains the MFS and MIVFS GDM methods. Lastly, these
multicriteriaGDMmethodsareappliedinanillustrativeexampleontheselectionproblemofequipmentsuppliers;thentheir
decisionresultsandcomparativeanalysisindicatethatthedevelopedGDMmethodsaremorepracticableandeffectiveandreflect
thateitherdifferentcorrelationcoefficientsordifferentinformationexpressionscanalsoimpactontherankingofalternatives.
erefore,thisstudyindicatesthemaincontributionofthemultifuzzycubicinformationexpression,correlationcoefficients,and
GDM methods in the multifuzzy setting of both uncertainty and certainty.
1. Introduction
Fuzzy set (FS) [1] is usually depicted by a membership
degree in the interval [0, 1], where only indicate one oc-
currence of each element. Hence, FSs have been wildly
applied in various areas [2–10] regarding vague and in-
completerealproblems.AstheextensionofFSs,Yager[11]
and Sebastian and Ramakrishnan [12] presented a fuzzy
multiset/bag/multifuzzy set (MFS), which provides a better
methodtorepresentthenumbersofcopiesofanelementto
the set by the different and/or same membership values.
us, fuzzy multisets/MFSs have been utilized for various
applications [13–17]. By extending the fuzzy multiset/MFS
totheinterval-valuedfuzzyset(IVFS)[18],Kreinovichand
Sriboonchitta [19] defined the notion of a multi-interval-
valued fuzzy set (MIVFS), where each element can be
repeated more than once with the different and/or same
interval-valuedmembershipvaluestoadequatelydescribea
union/sequence of interval-valued fuzzy values (IVFVs).
en,thereexistthecertaintyanduncertaintyofhuman
judgments regarding complicated real-world problems.
Hence,Junetal.[20]proposedanotionofafuzzycubicset
(FCS),whichcandepictthehybridfuzzyinformationofthe
partial certainty (fuzzy value) and partial uncertainty
(IVFV). Afterward, some researchers [21–24] also intro-
ducedsometheoryandapplicationsofFCSssinceFCSisa
very useful tool for expressing potentially uncertain and
certainty information provided by the decision-makers.
BasedonthehybridnotionofFCSandahesitantFS[25],
someresearchersproposedhesitantFCSsandtheirdecision-
making methods [26, 27] due to the hesitancy of human
judgments in the setting of FCSs; then some researchers
Hindawi
Mathematical Problems in Engineering
Volume 2021, Article ID 5520335, 9 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/5520335