Fuzzy Information Granulation with Multiple Levels of Granularity

Granular computing is a problem solving paradigm based on information granules, which are conceptual entities derived through a granulation process. Solving a complex problem, via a granular computing approach, means splitting the problem into information granules and handling each granule as a whole. This leads to a multi-level view of information granulation, which permeates human reasoning and has a significant impact in any field involving both human-oriented and machine- oriented problem solving. In this chapter we examine a view of granular computing as a paradigm of human-inspired problem solving and information processing with multiple levels of granularity, with special focus on fuzzy information granulation. To support the importance of granulation with multiple levels, we present a multi-level approach for extracting well-defined and semantically sound fuzzy information granules from numerical data.