Using the Hamming distance to extend TOPSIS in a fuzzy environment

Considering the fact that, in some cases, determining precisely the exact value of attributes is difficult and that their values can be considered as fuzzy data, this paper extends the TOPSIS method for dealing with fuzzy data, and an algorithm for determining the best choice among all possible choices when the data are fuzzy is also presented. In this approach, to identify the fuzzy ideal solution and fuzzy negative ideal solution, one of the Yager indices which is used for ordering fuzzy quantities in [0, 1] is applied. Using Yager’s index leads to a procedure for choosing fuzzy ideal and negative ideal solutions directly from the data for observed alternatives. Then, the Hamming distance is proposed for calculating the distance between two triangular fuzzy numbers. Finally, an application is given, to clarify the main results developed in the paper. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.