Applied Mathematical Modelling 35 (2011) 817–823

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Applied Mathematical Modelling

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apm

A new method for solving fully fuzzy linear programming problems

Amit Kumar, Jagdeep Kaur *, Pushpinder Singh
School of Mathematics and Computer Applications, Thapar University, Patiala 147 004, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Lotfi et al. [Solving a full fuzzy linear programming using lexicography method and fuzzy
Received 11 May 2010 approximate solution, Appl. Math. Modell. 33 (2009) 3151–3156] pointed out that there is
Received in revised form 15 July 2010 no method in literature for finding the fuzzy optimal solution of fully fuzzy linear program-
Accepted 16 July 2010
ming (FFLP) problems and proposed a new method to find the fuzzy optimal solution of
Available online 21 July 2010
FFLP problems with equality constraints. In this paper, a new method is proposed to find
the fuzzy optimal solution of same type of fuzzy linear programming problems. It is easy
Keywords:
to apply the proposed method compare to the existing method for solving the FFLP prob-
Fully fuzzy linear programming problems
Triangular fuzzy numbers
lems with equality constraints occurring in real life situations. To illustrate the proposed
Ranking function method numerical examples are solved and the obtained results are discussed.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Bellman and Zadeh [1] proposed the concept of decision making in fuzzy environment. Many researchers adopted this
concept for solving fuzzy linear programming problems [2–8]. However, in all of the above mentioned works, those cases
of fuzzy linear programming have been studied in which not all parts of the problem were assumed to be fuzzy, e.g., only
the right hand side or the objective function coefficients were fuzzy but the variables were not fuzzy.
The fuzzy linear programming problems in which all the parameters as well as the variables are represented by fuzzy
numbers is known as FFLP problems. FFLP problems can be divided into two categories: (1) FFLP problems with inequality
constraints (2) FFLP problems with equality constraints. Some authors [9–11] have proposed different methods for solving
FFLP problems with inequality constraints. In all these methods firstly the FFLP problem is converted into crisp linear pro-
gramming problem and then the obtained crisp linear programming problem is solved to find the fuzzy optimal solution of
the FFLP problems. The main disadvantage of the solution, obtained by the existing methods, are that it does not satisfies the
constraints exactly i.e. it is not possible to obtain the fuzzy number of the right hand side of the constraint by putting the
obtained solution in the left hand side of the constraint.
Dehghan et al. [12] proposed a fuzzy linear programming approach for finding the exact solution of fully fuzzy linear sys-
tem (FFLS) of equations. Lotfi et al. [13] proposed a method to obtain the approximate solution of FFLP problems. To the best
of our knowledge, till now there is no method in the literature to obtain the exact solution of FFLP problems with equality
constraints. By using the existing method [13] the obtained solutions are approximate not exact and also it is very difficult to
apply the existing method [13] to find the fuzzy optimal solution of FFLP problems.
In this paper the shortcomings of the existing methods [12,13] are pointed out and to overcome these shortcomings, a
new method is proposed for finding the fuzzy optimal solution of FFLP problems with equality constraints. To illustrate
the proposed method, numerical examples are solved and the obtained results are discussed.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9463984764.

E-mail addresses: amit_rs_iitr@yahoo.com (A. Kumar), sidhu.deepi87@gmail.com (J. Kaur), pushpindersnl@gmail.com (P. Singh).

0307-904X/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apm.2010.07.037
818 A. Kumar et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 35 (2011) 817–823

This paper is organized as follows: In Section 2 some basic definitions and arithmetics between two triangular fuzzy num-
bers are reviewed. In Section 3 formulation of FFLP problems and application of ranking function for solving FFLP problems
are discussed. In Section 4 shortcomings of the existing methods are pointed out. In Section 5 a new method is proposed for
solving FFLP problems. To illustrate the proposed method, numerical examples are solved and the obtained results are dis-
cussed in Section 6. In Section 7 advantage of the proposed over the existing method are described. Conclusions are dis-
cussed in Section 8.

2. Preliminaries

In this section, some necessary backgrounds and notions of fuzzy set theory are reviewed.

2.1. Basic definitions

Definition 2.1 [14]. The characteristic function lA of a crisp set A # X assigns a value either 0 or 1 to each member in X. This
function can be generalized to a function le such that the value assigned to the element of the universal set X fall within a
A
specified range i.e. le : X ! ½0; 1. The assigned value indicate the membership grade of the element in the set A.
A
e ¼ fðx; l ðxÞÞ; x 2 Xg defined by
The function le is called the membership function and the set A leA ðxÞ for each x 2 X is
A e
A
called a fuzzy set.

e ¼ ða; b; cÞ is said to be a triangular fuzzy number if its membership function is given

Definition 2.2 [14]. A fuzzy number A
by
8 ðxaÞ
>
> ; a 6 x 6 b;
< ðbaÞ
leA ðxÞ ¼ ðbcÞ ; b 6 x 6 c;
ðxcÞ
>
>
:
0; otherwise:

Definition 2.3 [14]. A triangular fuzzy number (a, b, c) is said to be non-negative fuzzy number iff a P 0.

e ¼ ða; b; cÞ and B
Definition 2.4 [14]. Two triangular fuzzy numbers A e ¼ ðe; f ; gÞ are said to be equal if and only if a = e, b = f,
c = g.

Definition 2.5 [15]. A ranking function is a function R : FðRÞ ! R, where F(R) is a set of fuzzy numbers defined on set of real
numbers, which maps each fuzzy number into the real line, where a natural order exists. Let A e ¼ ða; b; cÞ be a triangular fuzzy
e ¼ aþ2bþc.
number then Rð AÞ 4

2.2. Arithmetic operations

In this subsection, arithmetic operations between two triangular fuzzy numbers, defined on universal set of real numbers
R, are reviewed [14].
e ¼ ða; b; cÞ and B
Let A e ¼ ðe; f ; gÞ be two triangular fuzzy numbers then

(i) eB
A e ¼ ða; b; cÞ  ðe; f ; gÞ ¼ ða þ e; b þ f ; c þ gÞ,
(ii) Ae ¼ ða; b; cÞ ¼ ðc; b; aÞ,
(iii) eB
A e ¼ ða; b; cÞ  ðe; f ; gÞ ¼ ða  g; b  f ; c  eÞ,
(iv) e ¼ ða; b; cÞ be any triangular fuzzy number and B
Let A e ¼ ðx; y; zÞ be a non-negative triangular fuzzy number then
8
< ðax; by; czÞ; a P 0;
>
e  Bw
A e ðaz; by; czÞ; a < 0; c P 0;
>
:
ðaz; by; cxÞ; c < 0:

3. Fully fuzzy linear programming problem

Linear programming is one of the most frequently applied operations research technique. In the conventional approach
value of the parameters of linear programming models must be well defined and precise. However, in real world environ-
ment, this is not a realistic assumption. In the real life problems there may exists uncertainty about the parameters. In such
 A. Kumar et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 35 (2011) 817–823 819

a situation the parameters of linear programming problems may be represented as fuzzy numbers. FFLP problems with m
fuzzy equality constraints and n fuzzy variables may be formulated as follows:

Maximize ðor MinimizeÞ ð CeT  X

e Þ;
ðP 1 Þ subject to AeX e ¼ b;
~
e
X is a non-negative fuzzy number;

e T ¼ ½~cj  ; X
where C e ¼ ½~ e ¼ ½a
xj n1 ; A ~ ¼ ½b
~ij mn ; b ~ ~ij ; ~cj ; ~
i m1 and a
~ 2 FðRÞ.
xj ; bi
1n

3.1. Application of ranking function for solving FFLP problems

e if it satisfies the following characteristics:

The fuzzy optimal solution of FFLP problem (P1) will be a fuzzy number X

(i) e is a non-negative fuzzy number,

X
(ii) eX
A e ¼ b,
~
(iii) If there exist any non-negative fuzzy number X e 0 such that A eXe 0 ¼ b, eT  X
~ then Rð C eT  X
e Þ > Rð C e 0 Þ (in case of maxi-
mization problem) and Rð C eT  X eT  X
e Þ < Rð C e 0 Þ (in case of minimization problem).

e a fuzzy optimal solution of FFLP problem (P1). If there exist a fuzzy number Y
Remark 3.1. Let X e such that,

(i) e is a non-negative fuzzy number,

Y
(ii) eY
A e ¼ b,
~
(iii) eT  X
Rð C eT  Y
e Þ ¼ Rð C e Þ,

e is said to be a an alternative fuzzy optimal solution of (P1).

then Y

4. Shortcomings of the existing methods

In this section, the shortcomings of the existing methods [12,13] for solving FFLP problems with equality constraints are
pointed out.

(i) Dehghan et al. [12] proposed a fuzzy linear programming approach for finding the exact solution of FFLS of equations.
The existing method [12] is applicable only if all the elements of the coefficient matrix are non-negative fuzzy num-
bers, e.g., it is not possible to find the solution of FFLS, chosen in Example 4.1, by using the existing method [12] due to
the existence of (1, 1, 2) and (6, 14, 34) which are not the non-negative fuzzy numbers.

Example 4.1

ð2; 3; 4Þ  ~x1  ð1; 2; 3Þ  ~x2 ¼ ð5; 21; 43Þ;

ð1; 1; 2Þ  ~x1  ð1; 3; 4Þ  ~x2 ¼ ð6; 14; 34Þ;
x~1 ; ~x2 are non-negative triangular fuzzy numbers;

(ii) Lotfi et al. [13] proposed a new method to find the fuzzy optimal solution of FFLP problems with equality constraints.
This method can be applied only if the elements of the coefficient matrix are symmetric fuzzy numbers. To solve a FFLP
problem, in which the elements of coefficient matrix are not symmetric triangular fuzzy numbers, by using this
method first it is required to approximate the non-symmetric fuzzy number into a nearest symmetric fuzzy number.
Due to this conversion, the obtained solutions are not exact.

5. Proposed method to find the fuzzy optimal solution of FFLP problems

In this section, a new method is proposed to find the fuzzy optimal solution of following type of FFLP problems:

e T  XÞ;
Maximize ðor MinimizeÞ ð C e
e e ~
subject to A  X ¼ b;
e is a non-negative fuzzy number:
X
820 A. Kumar et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 35 (2011) 817–823

The steps of the proposed method are as follows:

e T ¼ ½~cj  ; X
Step 1 Substituting C e ¼ ½~ e ¼ ½a
xj n1 ; A ~ ¼ ½b
~ij mn ; b ~
i m1 the above FFLP problem may be written as:
1n

!
X
n
Maximize ðor MinimizeÞ ~cj  ~xj ;
j¼1
X
n
subject to a ~
~ij  ~xj ¼ b 8i ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; m;
i
j¼1

~xj is a non-negative triangular fuzzy number:

Step 2 If all the parameters ~cj ; ~xj ; a ~ are represented by triangular fuzzy numbers (p , q , r ), (x , y , z ), (a , b , c ), and
~ij and bi j j j j j j ij ij ij
(bi, gi, hi) respectively then the FFLP problem, obtained in Step 1, may be written as:

X
n
Maximize ðor MinimizeÞ ðpj ; qj ; r j Þ  ðxj ; yj ; zj Þ;
j¼1
X
n
subject to ðaij ; bij ; cij Þ  ðxj ; yj ; zj Þ ¼ ðbi ; g i ; hi Þ 8i ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; m;
j¼1

ðxj ; yj ; zj Þ is a non-negative triangular fuzzy number:

Step 3 Assuming (aij, bij, cij)  (xj, yj, zj) = (mij, nij, oij) the FFLP problem, obtained in Step 2, may be written as:
!
X
n
Maximize ðor MinimizeÞ R ðpj ; qj ; rj Þ  ðxj ; yj ; zj Þ ;
j¼1
X
n
subject to ðmij ; nij ; oij Þ ¼ ðbi ; g i ; hi Þ 8i ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; m;
j¼1

ðxj ; yj ; zj Þ is a non-negative triangular fuzzy number:

Step 4 Using arithmetic operations, defined in Section 2.2 and Definition 2.4 the fuzzy linear programming problem,
obtained in Step 3, is converted into the following CLP problem:
!
X
n
Maximize ðor MinimizeÞ R ðpj ; qj ; rj Þ  ðxj ; yj ; zj Þ ;
j¼1
X
n
subject to mij ¼ bi ; 8i ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; m;
j¼1
X
n
nij ¼ g i ; 8i ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; m;
j¼1
X
n
oij ¼ hi ; 8i ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; m;
j¼1

yj  xj P 0; zj  yj P 0 8j ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; n:

Step 5 Find the optimal solution xj, yj and zj by solving the CLP problem obtained in step 4.
Step 6 Find the fuzzy optimal solution by putting the values of xj, yj and zj in ~
xj ¼ ðxj ; yj ; zj Þ.
P
Step 7 Find the fuzzy optimal value by putting ~ xj in nj¼1 ~cj  ~
xj .

6. Numerical example

In this section proposed method is illustrated with the help of numerical examples:

Example 6.1. Let us consider the following FFLP and solve it by the proposed method
Maximize ðð1; 6; 9Þ  ~x1  ð2; 3; 8Þ  ~x2 Þ;
subject to ð2; 3; 4Þ  ~x1  ð1; 2; 3Þ  ~x2 ¼ ð6; 16; 30Þ;
ð1; 1; 2Þ  ~x1  ð1; 3; 4Þ  ~x2 ¼ ð1; 17; 30Þ;
~x1 ; ~x2 are non-negative triangular fuzzy numbers:
 A. Kumar et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 35 (2011) 817–823 821

Solution: Let ~
x1 ¼ ðx1 ; y1 ; z1 Þ and ~
x2 ¼ ðx2 ; y2 ; z2 Þ then given FFLP problem may be written as:

Maximize ðð1; 6; 9Þ  ðx1 ; y1 ; z1 Þ  ð2; 3; 8Þ  ðx2 ; y2 ; z2 ÞÞ;

subject to ð2; 3; 4Þ  ðx1 ; y1 ; z1 Þ  ð1; 2; 3Þ  ðx2 ; y2 ; z2 Þ ¼ ð6; 16; 30Þ;

ð1; 1; 2Þ  ðx1 ; y1 ; z1 Þ  ð1; 3; 4Þ  ðx2 ; y2 ; z2 Þ ¼ ð1; 17; 30Þ;

ðx1 ; y1 ; z1 Þ and ðx2 ; y2 ; z2 Þ are non-negative triangular fuzzy numbers:

Using Step 3, the above FFLP problem may be written as:

Maximize Rð1x1 þ 2x2 ; 6y1 þ 3y2 ; 9z1 þ 8z2 Þ;

subject to ð2x1 þ x2 ; 3y1 þ 2y2 ; 4z1 þ 3z2 Þ ¼ ð6; 16; 30Þ;

ðz1 þ x2 ; y1 þ 3y2 ; 2z1 þ 4z2 Þ ¼ ð1; 17; 30Þ;

ðx1 ; y1 ; z1 Þ and ðx2 ; y2 ; z2 Þ are non-negative triangular fuzzy numbers:

Using Step 4 of the proposed method the above fuzzy linear programming problem is converted into the following CLP
problem
 
1
Maximize ðx1 þ 2x2 þ 12y1 þ 6y2 þ 9z1 þ 8z2 Þ ;
4
subject to 2x1 þ x2 ¼ 6;
 z1 þ x2 ¼ 1;
3y1 þ 2y2 ¼ 16;
y1 þ 3y2 ¼ 17;
4z1 þ 3z2 ¼ 30;
2z1 þ 4z2 ¼ 30;
y1  x1 P 0; z1  y1 P 0; y2  x2 P 0; z2  y2 P 0:
The optimal solution of the above CLP problem is x1 = 1, y1 = 2, z1 = 3, x2 = 4, y2 = 5, z2 = 6. Using Step 6, the fuzzy optimal
solution is given by ~
x1 ¼ ð1; 2; 3Þ; ~
x2 ¼ ð4; 5; 6Þ. Hence, using Step 7, the fuzzy optimal value of the given FFLP problem is
(9, 27, 75).

Example 6.2. Let us consider the following FFLP and solve it by the proposed method

Maximize ðð1; 2; 3Þ  ~x1  ð2; 3; 4Þ  ~x2 Þ;

subject to ð0; 1; 2Þ  ~x1  ð1; 2; 3Þ  ~x2 ¼ ð2; 10; 24Þ;

ð1; 2; 3Þ  ~x1  ð0; 1; 2Þ  ~x2 ¼ ð1; 8; 21Þ;

~x1 and ~x2 are non-negative triangular fuzzy numbers:

Solution: Let ~
x1 ¼ ðx1 ; y1 ; z1 Þ and ~
x2 ¼ ðx2 ; y2 ; z2 Þ, then the given FFLP problem may be written as:

Maximize ðð1; 2; 3Þ  ðx1 ; y1 ; z1 Þ  ð2; 3; 4Þ  ðx2 ; y2 ; z2 ÞÞ;

subject to ð0; 1; 2Þ  ðx1 ; y1 ; z1 Þ  ð1; 2; 3Þ  ðx2 ; y2 ; z2 Þ ¼ ð2; 10; 24Þ;

ð1; 2; 3Þ  ðx1 ; y1 ; z1 Þ  ð0; 1; 2Þ  ðx2 ; y2 ; z2 Þ ¼ ð1; 8; 21Þ;

ðx1 ; y1 ; z1 Þ and ðx2 ; y2 ; z2 Þ are non-negative triangular fuzzy numbers:

Using Step 3, the above FFLP problem may be written as:

Maximize Rð1x1 þ 2x2 ; 2y1 þ 3y2 ; 3z1 þ 4z2 Þ;

subject to ð0x1 þ x2 ; y1 þ 2y2 ; 2z1 þ 3z2 Þ ¼ ð2; 10; 24Þ;

ðx1 þ 0x2 ; 2y1 þ y2 ; 3z1 þ 2z2 Þ ¼ ð1; 8; 21Þ;

ðx1 ; y1 ; z1 Þ and ðx2 ; y2 ; z2 Þ are non-negative triangular fuzzy numbers:

822 A. Kumar et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 35 (2011) 817–823

Using Step 4 of the proposed method the above fuzzy linear programming problem is converted into the following CLP
problem
 
1
Maximize ðx1 þ 2x2 þ 4y1 þ 6y2 þ 3z1 þ 4z2 Þ ;
4
subject to 0x1 þ x2 ¼ 2;
x1 þ 0x2 ¼ 1;
y1 þ 2y2 ¼ 10;
2y1 þ y2 ¼ 8;
2z1 þ 3z2 ¼ 24;
3z1 þ 2z2 ¼ 21;
y1  x1 P 0; z1  y1 P 0; y2  x2 P 0; z2  y2 P 0:
The optimal solution of the above CLP problem is x1 = 1, y1 = 2, z1 = 3, x2 = 2, y2 = 4, z2 = 6. Using Step 6, the fuzzy optimal
solution is given by ~
x1 ¼ ð1; 2; 3Þ; ~
x2 ¼ ð2; 4; 6Þ. Hence, using Step 7, the fuzzy optimal value of the given FFLP problem is
(5, 16, 33).

6.1. Results and discussion

It can be easily verified that the values of ~

x1 and ~
x2 , obtained in Examples 6.1 and 6.2, exactly satisfies all the constraints
and also it is not possible to find any non-negative triangular fuzzy numbers ~ x1 and ~
x2 which will satisfy the following
conditions:

(i) Rðð1; 6; 9Þ  ~
x1  ð2; 3; 8Þ  ~
x2 Þ > Rð9; 27; 75Þ,
(ii) Rðð1; 2; 3Þ  ~
x1  ð2; 3; 4Þ  ~
x2 Þ > Rð5; 16; 33Þ.

If the same numerical examples are solved by the existing approach [13] then the obtained solution will be approximate.
Also it is difficult to find the solution by using the existing method [13] as compared to the proposed method.

7. Advantages of the proposed method over the existing methods

In this section, it is shown that by using the proposed method all the shortcomings, described in Section 4, in the existing
methods [12,13] are removed and also it is better to use the proposed method for solving the FFLP problems, occurring in real
life situations as compared to the existing methods.

(i) In Section 4, it is pointed out that the existing method [12] can be applied only to find the exact solution of a special
type of FFLS of equations for which all the elements of the coefficient matrix are non-negative fuzzy numbers. The
advantage of the proposed method over the existing method [12] is that it can be applied for solving FFLS of equations
without any restriction on the elements of coefficient matrix. To show the advantage of the proposed method the FFLS,
chosen in Example 4.1 which can not be solved by the existing method [12], is solved by the proposed method.

Example 7.1. Let us consider a FFLS with arbitrary coefficients, chosen in Example 4.1 and solve it by using the proposed
method:
ð2; 3; 4Þ  ~x1  ð1; 2; 3Þ  ~x2 ¼ ð5; 21; 43Þ;
ð1; 1; 2Þ  ~x1  ð1; 3; 4Þ  ~x2 ¼ ð6; 14; 34Þ;
~x1 ; ~x2 are non-negative triangular fuzzy numbers:
Solution: Let ~
x1 ¼ ðx1 ; y1 ; z1 Þ and ~
x2 ¼ ðx2 ; y2 ; z2 Þ then given FFLS may be written as:
ð2; 3; 4Þ  ðx1 ; y1 ; z1 Þ  ð1; 2; 3Þ  ðx2 ; y2 ; z2 Þ ¼ ð5; 21; 43Þ;
ð1; 1; 2Þ  ðx1 ; y1 ; z1 Þ  ð1; 3; 4Þ  ðx2 ; y2 ; z2 Þ ¼ ð6; 14; 34Þ;
ðx1 ; y1 ; z1 Þ and ðx2 ; y2 ; z2 Þ are non-negative triangular fuzzy numbers:
The above FFLS may be written as:
ð2x1 þ x2 ; 3y1 þ 2y2 ; 4z1 þ 3z2 Þ ¼ ð5; 21; 43Þ;
ðz1 þ x2 ; y1 þ 3y2 ; 2z1 þ 4z2 Þ ¼ ð6; 14; 34Þ;
ðx1 ; y1 ; z1 Þ and ðx2 ; y2 ; z2 Þ are non-negative triangular fuzzy numbers:
 A. Kumar et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 35 (2011) 817–823 823

Now by using the proposed method, the above FFLS may be converted into the following crisp system
2x1 þ x2 ¼ 5;
 z1 þ x2 ¼ 6;
3y1 þ 2y2 ¼ 21;
y1 þ 3y2 ¼ 14;
4z1 þ 3z2 ¼ 43;
2z1 þ 4z2 ¼ 34:
Now the above linear system can be solved by using two phase method:
Minimize ðr 1 þ r 2 þ r 01 þ r 02 þ r 001 þ r 002 Þ;
subject to 2x1 þ x2 þ r 1 ¼ 5;
 z1 þ x2 þ r2 ¼ 6;
3y1 þ 2y2 þ r01 ¼ 21;
y1 þ 3y2 þ r 02 ¼ 14;
4z1 þ 3z2 þ r 001 ¼ 43;
2z1 þ 4z2 þ r 002 ¼ 34;
y1  x1 P 0; z1  y1 P 0; y2  x2 P 0; z2  y2 P 0:
where r1 ; r 2 ; r 01 ; r02 ; r 001 ; r002
P 0 are artificial variables. The optimal solution of the above CLP problem is x1 = 2, y1 = 5, z1 = 7,
x2 = 1, y2 = 3, z2 = 5. Using Step 6, the fuzzy solution is given by ~
x1 ¼ ð2; 5; 7Þ; ~
x2 ¼ ð1; 3; 5Þ.

(ii) In Section 4 it is pointed out that the existing method [13] can be applied only for solving a special type of FFLP prob-
lems in which all the elements of the coefficient matrix are symmetric fuzzy numbers. Also in the same section, it is
pointed out that to apply the existing method for solving a FFLP problem in which all the elements of coefficient
matrix are not symmetric fuzzy numbers, firstly it is required to approximate the fuzzy numbers into nearest symmet-
ric fuzzy numbers and due to this conversion the obtained solutions are not exact. The advantage of the proposed
method over the existing [13] method is that for using the proposed method there is no restriction on the elements
of coefficient matrix and the obtained results exactly satisfies all the constraints. Also, it is very easy to apply the pro-
posed method as compared to the existing method [13] for solving the FFLP problems, occurring in real life situations.

8. Conclusions

In this paper a new method is proposed to find the fuzzy optimal solution of FFLP problems with equality constraints. By
using the proposed method the fuzzy optimal solution of FFLP problems with equality constraints, occurring in real life sit-
uation, can be easily obtained. To illustrate the proposed method numerical examples are solved.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank to the editor and anonymous referees for various suggestions which have led to an
improvement in both the quality and clarity of the paper.

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