Rapid formation and development of new theories of systems science have
become an important part of modern science and technology. For - ample,
since the 1940s, there have appeared systems theory, information theory,
fuzzy mathematics, cybernetics, dissipative structures, synergetics,
catastrophe theory, chaos theory, bifurcations, ultra circulations,
dynamics, and many other systems theories. Grey systems theory is also
one of such systems theories that appeared initially in the 1980s. When
the research of systems science and the method and technology of systems
engineering are applied in various traditional disciplines, such as
management science, decision science, and various scienti?c disciplines,
a whole new group of new results and breakthroughs are obtained. Such a
historical background has provided the environment and soil for grey
systems theory to form and to develop rapidly in the past 20-plus years.
More speci?cally, in 1982, Professor Deng Ju-Long published the ?rst
research paper in the area of grey systems in the international journal
entitled Systems and Control Letters, published by North-Holland Co. His
paper was titled "Control Problems of Grey Systems. " The publication of
this paper signalled the birth of grey systems theory after many years
of e ective research of the founding father. This new theory soon caught
the attention of the international academic community and practitioners
of science. Many well-known scholars, such as Chinese academicians Qian
Xueshen, Song Jian, and Zhang Zhongjun. Professor Roger W.
