A heuristic approach to classifying labeled/unlabeled data sets

A classification method, which comprises Fuzzy C-Means method, a modified form of the Huangindex function and Variable Precision Rough Set (VPRS) theory, is proposed for classifying labeled/ unlabeled data sets in this study. This proposed method, designated as the MVPRS-index method, is used to partition the values of per conditional attribute within the data set and to achieve both the optimal number of clusters and the optimal accuracy of VPRS classification. The validity of the proposed approach is confirmed by comparing the classification results obtained from the MVPRSindex method for UCI data sets and a typical stock market data set with those obtained from the supervised neural networks classification method. Overall, the results show that the MVPRS-index method could be applied to data sets not only with labeled information but also with unlabeled information, and therefore provides a more reliable basis for the extraction of decision-making rules of labeled/unlabeled datasets. Journal of the Operational Research Society (2012) 63, 1248–1257. doi:10.1057/jors.2011.103 Published online 21 December 2011