A novel parametric ranking method for intuitionistic fuzzy numbers

Since the inception of intuitionistic fuzzy sets in 1986, many authors have proposed different methods for ranking intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (IFNs). However, due to the complexity of the problem, a method which gives a satisfactory result to all situations is a challenging task. Most of them contained some shortcomings, such as requirement of complicated calculations, inconsistency with human intuition and indiscrimination and some produce different rankings for the same situation and some methods cannot rank crisp numbers. For overcoming the above problems, in this paper, a new parametric ranking method for IFNs is proposed. It is developed based on the concept alpha-cuts and beta-cuts and area on left side of IFNs. The proposed ranking method is applied to solve partner selection problem in which the rating of partner on attributes are expressed by using triangular IFNs. The proposed method is much simpler and more efficient than other methods in the literature. Some comparative examples are also given to illustrate the advantages of the proposed method.