Actully flexible variable is fuzzy number which one can used to modeling as classic number.
take example:
3+2=5 in classic number, but in fuzzy number it will be:
assume fuzzy number: 2= 0.5/1+1/2+0.5/3 and 3 =0.5/2+1/3+0.5/4, so
2+3 = 0.5/3+0.5/4+1/5+0.5/6+0.5/7 (i exert min for operator)
in show before the ‘+’ is using extend principle to calculate.
however, in pattern recognization, such as to recognise a triangle. in previously, as known to all, three degree of triangle sum is 180. and then we can define a, b, c as fuzzy numbers. therefore a, b, c will resemble flexible variable by imprecise measure.