Jean-Luc Marichal - Böcker

Aggregation is the process of combining several numerical values into a single representative value, and an aggregation function performs this operation. These functions arise wherever aggregating information is important: applied and pure mathematics (probability, statistics, decision theory, functional equations), operations research, computer science, and many applied fields (economics and finance, pattern recognition and image processing, data fusion, etc.). This is a comprehensive, rigorous and self-contained exposition of aggregation functions. Classes of aggregation functions covered include triangular norms and conorms, copulas, means and averages, and those based on nonadditive integrals. The properties of each method, as well as their interpretation and analysis, are studied in depth, together with construction methods and practical identification methods. Special attention is given to the nature of scales on which values to be aggregated are defined (ordinal, interval, ratio, bipolar). It is an ideal introduction for graduate students and a unique resource for researchers.

In 1922, Harald Bohr and Johannes Mollerup established a remarkable characterization of the Euler gamma function using its log-convexity property. A decade later, Emil Artin investigated this result and used it to derive the basic properties of the gamma function using elementary methods of the calculus. Bohr-Mollerup's theorem was then adopted by Nicolas Bourbaki as the starting point for his exposition of the gamma function.This open access book develops a far-reaching generalization of Bohr-Mollerup's theorem to higher order convex functions, along lines initiated by Wolfgang Krull, Roger Webster, and some others but going considerably further than past work. In particular, this generalization shows using elementary techniques that a very rich spectrum of functions satisfy analogues of several classical properties of the gamma function, including Bohr-Mollerup's theorem itself, Euler's reflection formula, Gauss' multiplication theorem, Stirling's formula, and Weierstrass' canonical factorization.The scope of the theory developed in this work is illustrated through various examples, ranging from the gamma function itself and its variants and generalizations (q-gamma, polygamma, multiple gamma functions) to important special functions such as the Hurwitz zeta function and the generalized Stieltjes constants. This volume is also an opportunity to honor the 100th anniversary of Bohr-Mollerup's theorem and to spark the interest of a large number of researchers in this beautiful theory.