Showing papers by "Thomas L. Saaty published in 1988"

What is the analytic hierarchy process

Abstract: In our everyday life, we must constantly make choices concerning what tasks to do or not to do, when to do them, and whether to do them at all.

How to Make a Decision: The Analytic Hierarchy Process

Abstract: People make three general types of judgments to express im portance, preference, or likelihood and use them to choose the best among alternatives in the presence of environmental, so cial, political, and other influences. They base these judgments on knowledge in memory or from analyzing benefits, costs, and risks. From past knowledge, we sometimes can develop stan dards of excellence and poorness and use them to rate the alter natives one at a time. This is useful in such repetitive situations as student admissions and salary raises that must conform with established norms. Without norms one compares alternatives instead of rating them. Comparisons must fall in an admissible range of consistency. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in cludes both the rating and comparison methods. Rationality re quires developing a reliable hierarchic structure or feedback network that includes criteria of various types of influence, stakeholders, and decision alternatives to determine the best choice.

Some mathematical topics in the analytic hierarchy process

Abstract: Decisions involving several criteria and alternatives need a correct procedure to combine weights to make tradeoffs and select the best alternatives. There are two parts to the problem, both of which need proof. The first is how to generate judgments and associate numbers with them, and the second is how to combine these numbers in a meaningful way to get an answer.