QUERY TERM WEIGHTS AS CONSTRAINTS IN FUZZY INFORMATION-RETRIEVAL

The generalization of the Boolean information retrieval model has presented several problems, especially with respect to query weighting. Assuming some recent ideas, which outline the need for two levels of query weighting, we propose two different semantics for Boolean expression weights and term weights. By interpreting query term weights as constraints on document representations, we formally define them in the fuzzy set theoretical context and show how this formalization satisifies the wish-list clarified by Carter and Kraft.