This paper discusses and proposes a rough set model for an incomplete information system, which defines an extended tolerance relation using frequency of attribute values in such a system. It first discusses some rough set extensions in incomplete information systems. Next, “probability of matching” is defined from data in information systems and then measures the degree of tolerance. Consequently, a rough set model is developed using a tolerance relation defined with a threshold. The paper discusses the mathematical properties of the newly developed rough set model and also introduces a method to derive reducts and the core. 1. Introduction Rough set theory [1, 2] was first proposed by Pawlak as a means to analyze vague descriptions of items. The original rough sets approach presupposes that all objects in an information system have precise attribute values. Problems arise when some of the values are unknown, which sometimes happens in the real world. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a theory which enables classifications of objects even if there is only partial information available. The rough set model proposed by Kryszkiewicz [3, 4], for example, introduced indiscernibility based on tolerance relation to deal with missing values in the information system. In these approaches, a missing value was considered as a special value that may take any possible value. However, tolerance relation sometimes leads to a poor result with respect to approximation. Stefanowski and Tsoukiàs [5, 6] discussed the limitation and introduced similarity relation to refine the results obtained by using tolerance relation approach. Wang [7] gave some examples to prove that similarity relation may results in lost information and proposed limited tolerance relation. Yang et al. [8] also generalized a reasonable and flexible classification in incomplete information system by “new binary relation.” In fact, there is an array of methods to handle incomplete objects [9, 10]. Some approaches replace missing values with the most common value [11], while the other considers “unknown” itself as a new value for the attribute and treats it in the same way as ordinary values [10]. Actually, the method of handling missing values should be chosen depending on the characteristics and requirements of applications. In general, approaches deal with unavailable values based on one of the following two interpretations [12]. The first is “lost value” in which unknown values of attributes are already lost. Similarity relation [5] is one example of this semantics. The second is “do not care,”
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