Fuzzy requests: An approach to weighted boolean searches

This article concerns the problem of how to permit a patron to represent the relative importance of various index terms in a Boolean request while retaining the desirable properties of a Boolean system. The character of classical Boolean systems is reviewed and related to the notion of fuzzy sets. The fuzzy set concept then forms the basis of the concept of a fuzzy request in which weights are assigned to index terms. The properties of such a system are discussed, and it is shown that such systems retain the manipulability of traditional Boolean requests.