1. Introduction
In some real-life problems in expert system, belief system, information fusion and so on, we must consider the truth-membership as well as the falsity-membership for proper description of an object in uncertain, ambiguous environment. Intuitionistic fuzzy sets were introduced by Atanassov [1] . After Atanassov’s work, Smarandache [2] [3] introduced the concept of neutrosophic set which is a mathematical tool for handling problems involving imprecise, indeterminacy and inconsistent data. In 1999, Molodtsov [4] initiated a novel concept of soft set theory as a new mathematical tool for dealing with uncertainties. After Molodtsov’s work, some different operations and applications of soft sets were studied by Chen et al. [5] and Maji et al. [6] . Later, Maji [7] firstly proposed neutrosophic soft sets with operations. Alkhazaleh et al. generalized the concept of fuzzy soft expert sets which include that possibility of each element in the universe is attached with the parameterization of fuzzy sets while defining a fuzzy soft expert set [8] . Alkhazaleh et al. [9] generalized the concept of parameterized interval- valued fuzzy soft sets, where the mapping in which the approximate function are defined from fuzzy parameters set, and they gave an application of this concept in decision making. In the other study, Alkhazaleh and Salleh [10] introduced the concept soft expert sets where user can know the opinion of all expert sets. Alkhazaleh and Salleh [11] generalized the concept of a soft expert set to fuzzy soft expert set, which is a more effective and useful. They also defined its basic operations, namely complement, union, intersection, AND and OR, and gave an application of this concept in decision-making problem. They also studied a mapping on fuzzy soft expert classes and its properties. Our objective is to introduce the concept of neutrosophic soft expert set. In Section 1, we introduce from intuitionistic fuzzy sets to soft expert sets. In Section 2, preliminaries are given. In Section 3, we also define the concept of neutrosophic soft expert set and its basic operations, namely complement, union, intersection AND and OR. In Section 4, we give an application of this concept in a decision-making problem. In Section 5 conclusions are given.
2. Preliminaries
In this section we recall some related definitions.
2.1. Definition: [3] Let U be a space of points (objects), with a generic element in U denoted by u. A neutrosophic set (N-sets) A in U is characterized by a truth-membership function TA, a indeterminacy-membership function IA and a falsity-membership function FA.
;
and
are real standard or nonstandard subsets of
. It can be written as

There is no restriction on the sum of
;
and
, so
.
2.2. Definition: [7] Let U be an initial universe set and E be a set of parameters. Consider
. Let
denotes the set of all neutrosophic sets of U. The collection
is termed to be the soft neutrosophic set over U, where F is a mapping given by
.
2.3. Definition: [6] A neutrosophic set A is contained in another neutrosophic set B i.e.
if
,
,
,
.
Let U be a universe, E a set of parameters, and X a soft experts (agents). Let O be a set of opinion,
and
.
2.4. Definition: [9] A pair (F, A) is called a soft expert set over U, where F is mapping given by
where
denotes the power set of U.
2.5. Definition: [11] A pair
is called a fuzzy soft expert set over U, where F is mapping given by
where
denotes the set of all fuzzy subsets of U.
2.6. Definition: [11] For two fuzzy soft expert sets
and
over U,
is called a fuzzy soft expert subset of
if
1) ![]()
2)
,
is fuzzy subset of ![]()
This relationship is denoted by
. In this case
is called a fuzzy soft expert superset of
.
2.7. Definition: [11] Two fuzzy soft expert sets
and
over U are said to be equal.
If
is a fuzzy soft expert subset of
and
is a fuzzy soft expert subset of
.
2.8. Definition: [11] An agree-fuzzy soft expert set
over U is a fuzzy soft expert subset of
defined as follow
.
2.9. Definition: [11] A disagree-fuzzy soft expert set
over U is a fuzzy soft expert subset of
defined as follow
.
2.10. Definition: [11] Complement of a fuzzy soft expert set. The complement of a fuzzy soft expert set
denoted by
and is defined as
where
is mapping given by
![]()
where
is a fuzzy complement.
2.11. Definition: [11] The intersection of fuzzy soft expert sets
and
over U, denoted by
, is the fuzzy soft expert set
where
and
,
![]()
where t is a t-norm.
2.12. Definition: [11] The intersection of fuzzy soft expert sets
and
over U, denoted by
, is the fuzzy soft expert set
where
and
,
![]()
where s is an s-norm.
2.13. Definition: [11] If
and
are two fuzzy soft expert sets over U then “
AND
” denoted by
is defined by
![]()
such that
,
where t is a t-norm.
2.14. Definition: [11] If
and
are two fuzzy soft expert sets over U then “
OR
” denoted by
is defined by
![]()
such that
,
where s is an s-norm.
Using the concept of neutrosophic set now we introduce the concept of neutrosophic soft expert set.
3. Neutrosophic Soft Expert Set
In this section, we introduce the definition of a neutrosophic soft expert set and give basic properties of this concept.
Let U be a universe, E a set of parameters, X a set of experts (agents), and
a set of opinions. Let
and
.
3.1. Definition: A pair
is called a neutrosophic soft expert set over U, where F is mapping given by
![]()
where
denotes the power neutrosophic set of U. For definition we consider an example.
3.1. Example: Suppose the following U is the set of car under consideration E is the set of parameters. Each parameter is a neutrosophic word or sentence involving neutrosophic words.
![]()
![]()
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be a set of experts. Suppose that
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The neutrosophic soft expert set
is a parameterized family
of all neutrosophic sets of U and describes a collection of approximation of an object.
3.1. Definition: Let
and
be two neutrosophic soft expert sets over the common universe U.
is said to be neutrosophic soft expert subset of
, if
and
,
, ![]()
,
We denote it by
.
is said to be neutrosophic soft expert superset of
if
is a neutrosophic soft expert subset of
. We denote by
.
3.2. Example: Suppose that a company produced new types of its products and wishes to take the opinion of some experts about concerning these products. Let
be a set of product,
a set of decision parameters where
denotes the decision “easy to use”, “quality” respectively and let
be a set of experts. Suppose
![]()
![]()
Clearly
. Let
and
be defined as follows:
![]()
Therefore
.
3.3. Definition: Equality of two neutrosophic soft expert sets. Two (NSES),
and
over the common universe U are said to be equal if
is neutrosophic soft expert subset of
and
is neutrosophic soft expert subset of
.We denote it by
.
3.4. Definition: NOT set of set parameters. Let
be a set of parameters. The NOT set of E is denoted by
where
not
,
.
3.3. Example: Consider 3.2.example. Here ![]()
3.5. Definition: Complement of a neutrosophic soft expert set. The complement of a neutrosophic soft expert set
denoted by
and is defined as
where
is map-
ping given by
neutrosophic soft expert complement with
,
,
.
3.4. Example: Consider the 3.1 Example. Then
describes the “not easy to use of the car” we have
![]()
3.6. Definition: Empty or null neutrosophic soft expert set with respect to parameter. A neutrosophic soft expert set
over the universe U is termed to be empty or null neutrosophic soft expert set with respect to the parameter A if
.
In this case the null neutrosophic soft expert set (NNSES) is denoted by
.
3.5. Example: Let
the set of three cars be considered as universal set
be the set of parameters that characterizes the car and let
be a set of experts.
![]()
Here the (NNSES)
is the null neutrosophic soft expert sets.
3.7. Definition: An agree-neutrosophic soft expert set
over U is a neutrosophic soft expert subset of
defined as follow
.
3.6. Example: Consider 3.1. Example. Then the agree-neutrosophic soft expert set
over U is
![]()
3.8. Definition: A disagree-neutrosophic soft expert set
over U is a neutrosophic soft expert subset of
defined as follow
.
3.7. Example: Consider 3.1. Example. Then the disagree-neutrosophic soft expert set
over U is
![]()
3.9. Definition: Union of two neutrosophic soft expert sets.
Let
and
be two NSESs over the common universe U. Then the union of
and
is denoted by “
” and is defined by
, where
and the truth- membership, indeterminacy-membership and falsity-membership of
are as follows:
![]()
3.8. Example: Let
and
be two NSESs over the common universe U
![]()
Therefore ![]()
![]()
3.10. Definition: Intersection of two neutrosophic soft expert sets. Let
and
be two NSESs over the common universe U. Then the intersection of
and
is denoted by “
” and is defined by
, where
and the truth-membership, indeterminacy-membership and falsity-membership of
are as follows:
![]()
3.9. Example: Let
and
be two NSESs over the common universe U
![]()
Therefore ![]()
.
3.1. Proposition: If
and
are neutrosophic soft expert sets over U. Then
1) ![]()
2) ![]()
3) ![]()
4) ![]()
5) ![]()
Proof: 1) We want to prove that
by using 3.9 definition and we consider the case when if
as the other cases are trivial, then we have
![]()
The proof of the propositions 2) to 5) are obvious.
3.2. Proposition: If
,
and
are three neutrosophic soft expert sets over U. Then
1) ![]()
2) ![]()
Proof: 1) We want to prove that
by using 3.9 definition and we consider the case when if
as the other cases are trivial, then we have
![]()
We also consider her the case when
as the other cases are trivial, then we have
![]()
2) The proof is straightforward.
3.3. Proposition: If
,
and
are three neutrosophic soft expert sets over U. Then
1) ![]()
2) ![]()
Proof: We use the same method as in the previous proof.
3.11. Definition: AND operation on two neutrosophic soft expert sets. Let
and
be two NSESs over the common universe U. Then “AND” operation on them is denoted by “
” and is defined by
where the truth-membership, indeterminacy-membership and falsity-member- ship of
are as follows:
![]()
3.10. Example: Let
and
be two NSESs over the common universe U. Then
and
is a follows:
![]()
Therefore ![]()
![]()
3.12. Definition: OR operation on two neutrosophic soft expert sets. Let
and
be two NSESs over the common universe U. Then “OR” operation on them is denoted by “
” and is defined by
where the truth-membership, indeterminacy-membership and falsity-membership of
are as follows:
![]()
3.11. Example: Let
and
be two NSESs over the common universe U. Then
OR
is a follows:
![]()
Therefore ![]()
![]()
3.4. Proposition: If
and
are neutrosophic soft expert sets over U. Then
1) ![]()
2) ![]()
Proof: 1) Let
and
![]()
be two NSESs over the common universe
. Also let
, where
![]()
Therefore
![]()
Again
![]()
Hence the result is proved.
3.5. Proposition: If
,
and
are three neutrosophic soft expert sets over U. Then
1) ![]()
2) ![]()
3) ![]()
4) ![]()
Proof: We use the same method as in the previous proof.
4. An Application of Neutrosophic Soft Expert Set
In this section, we present an application of neutrosophic soft expert set theory in a decision-making problem. The problem we consider is as below:
Suppose that a hospital to buy abed. Seven alternatives are as follows:
,
suppose there are five parameters
where the parameters
stand for “medical bed”, “soft bed”, “orthopedic bed”, “moving bed”, “air bed”, respectively. Let
be a set of experts. Suppose:
![]()
In Table 1 and Table 2 we present the agree-neutrosophic soft expert set and disagree-neutrosophic soft expert set, respectively, such that if
then
otherwise
, and if
then
otherwise
where
are the entries in Table 1 and Table 2.
The following algorithm may be followed by the hospital wants to buy a bed.
1) input the neutrosophic soft expert set
,
2) find an agree-neutrosophic soft expert set and a disagree-soft expert set,
3) find
for agree-neutrosophic soft expert set,
4) find
for disagree-neutrosophic soft expert set,
5) find ![]()
6) find m, for which ![]()
![]()
Table 1. Agree-neutrosophic soft expert set.
![]()
Table 2. Disagree-neutrosophic soft expert set.
Then
is the optimal choice object. If m has more than one value, then any one of them could be chosen by hospital using its option. Now we use this algorithm to find the best choices for to get to the hospital bed. From Table 1 and Table 2 we have Table 3.
Then
, so the hospital will select the bed
. In any case if they do not want to choose
due to some reasons they second choice will be
.
5. Conclusion
In this paper, we have introduced the concept of neutrosophic soft expert set which is more effective and useful and studied some of its properties. Also the basic operations on neutrosophic soft expert set namely complement, union, intersection, AND and OR have been defined. Finally, we have presented an application of NSES in a decision-making problem.