Extension of Covering Approximation Space and Its Application in Attribute Reduction

The concept of the complement of a covering is introduced firstly, and then the complement space and extended space of a covering approximation space is defined based on it. It is proved that a covering approximation space will generate the same covering lower and upper approximations as its complement space and extended space if the covering is degenerated to a partition. Moreover, the extended space of a covering approximation space often generate a bigger covering lower approximation or smaller covering upper approximation than itself. Through extending each covering in a covering decision system, the classification ability of each covering is improved. Thus, a heuristic reduction algorithm is developed to eliminate some coverings in a covering decision system without decreasing the classification ability of the system for decision. Theoretic analysis and example illustration indicate that this algorithm can get shorter reduction than other algorithms.