A BRIEF ANSWER TO "WHAT IS FUZZY LOGIC?" Most decisions we make in daily living are thought out with words, not numbers. For example, suppose Al Bundy (a shoestore owner) tells his new assistant that he should first show a size 12 shoe if the customer is a very tall man and a size 6 if very short. Now a customer walks in and appears to be "somewhat tall". Since the customer is definitely not very short but also not exactly very tall, the assistant decides to first show a size 10. This reasonable decision was achieved by interpolating (finding a middle ground) between size 6 and size 12. Since the customer was closer to being very tall than being very short, a number was chosen closer to size 12 than size 6. This mental process can be modelled in a mathematical way called fuzzy logic. Note that a precise numeric value (size 10) was produced, even though the rules which the assistant was given contained vague non-numeric references, such as "very tall". That is the power of fuzzy logic. Mark Jurick Consultant