Multiple attribute decision making based on different types of linguistic information

Distance measures between exact linguistic variables and between uncertain linguistic variables are introduced respectively. Based on exact linguistic variables and uncertain linguistic variables, the concepts of positive linguistic ideal solution and negative linguistic ideal solution of attribute values are defined. To rank and select alternatives, based on the distance measures of two types of linguistic variables and the linguistic ideal solutions, a method for multiple attribute decision making with different types of linguistic information is proposed, by which all alternatives can be ranked. The method can carry out linguistic computation processes easily without loss of linguistic information, and thus makes the decision result reasonable and effective. Finally, the implementation process of the proposed method is illustrated and analyzed by a numerical example.