Showing papers by "Thomas L. Saaty published in 1999"

Fundamentals of the analytic network process

Abstract: The Analytic Network Process (ANP) is a general theory of relative measurement used to derive composite priority ratio scales from individual ratio scales that represent relative measurements of the influence of elements that interact with respect to control criteria. Through its supermatrix whose elements are themselves matrices of column priorities, the ANP captures the ou tcome of dependence and feedback within and between clusters of elements. The Analytic Hie rarchy Process (AHP) with its dependence assumptions on clusters and elements is a special case of the ANP. The ANP is a new and an essential phase in decision making, neglected so far b ecause of the linear structures used in traditional approaches and their inability to deal with fee dback in order to choose alternatives not simply according to attributes and criteria, but also a ccording to their consequences both positive and negative – an essential and so far a missing co nsideration in decision making. This paper gives a brief look at the foundation of the ANP t ogether with a simple example.

The Seven Pillars of the Analytic Hierarchy Process

Abstract: The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) provides the objective mathematics to process the inescapably subjective and personal preferences of an individual or a group in making a decision. With the AHP and its generalization, the Analytic Network Process (ANP), one constructs hierarchies or feedback networks, then makes judgments or performs measurements on pairs of elements with respect to a controlling element to derive ratio scales that are then synthesized throughout the structure to select the best alternative.

The allocation of intangible resources: the analytic hierarchy process and linear programming

Abstract: An intangible is an attribute that has no scale of measurement. Intangibles such as effort and skill arise in conjunction with resource allocation but are not usually included directly in a mathematical model because of the absence of a unit of measurement. However, intangibles can be quantified through relative measurement (priorities). Intangible resource allocation uses these priorities along with normalized measures of tangibles (when present) in a linear programming model with coefficients and variables measured in relative terms. The priorities of tangible resources from the optimal solution can then be used to assign monetary values to priorities of any intangible resources.

Basic theory of the analytic hierarchy process: how to make a decision

Abstract: An assumption arising from the practice of science and engineering since the middle ages is that because nature is physical, we should be able to relate all measurement to physical dimensions. But that is not true. Human thinking and feeling exist in the physical world but they are not matter or gravity or electromagnetism in the strict sense science understands them today. They are intangible. The human experience involves a very large number of intangibles. In general and with few exceptions, intangibles cannot be measured on a physical scale. However, they can be measured in relative terms through comparison with other tangibles or intangibles with respect to attributes they have in common (taken one at a time) and a ratio scale can be derived from them that yields their relative measurement values. The attributes are themselves compared as to their importance with respect to still higher attributes, relative measures derived, and so on up to an overall goal.