Rough sets and matroidal contraction
  Rough sets are efficient for data pre-processing in data mining. As a
generalization of the linear independence in vector spaces, matroids provide
well-established platforms for greedy algorithms. In this paper, we apply rough
sets to matroids and study the contraction of the dual of the corresponding
matroid. First, for an equivalence relation on a universe, a matroidal
structure of the rough set is established through the lower approximation
operator. Second, the dual of the matroid and its properties such as
independent sets, bases and rank function are investigated. Finally, the
relationships between the contraction of the dual matroid to the complement of
a single point set and the contraction of the dual matroid to the complement of
the equivalence class of this point are studied.
