The Computational Complexity of Inference Using Rough Set Flow Graphs

Abstract. Pawlak recently introduced rough set flow graphs (RSFGs) as a graphical framework for reasoning from data. Each rule is associated with three coefficients, which have been shown to satisfy Bayes’ theorem. Thereby, RSFGs provide a new perspective on Bayesian inference methodology. In this paper, we show that inference in RSFGs takes polynomial time with respect to the largest domain of the variables in the decision tables. Thereby, RSFGs provide an efficient tool for uncertainty management. On the other hand, our analysis also indicates that a RSFG is a special case of conventional Bayesian network and that RSFGs make implicit assumptions regarding the problem domain.