Thomas L. Saaty

Bio: Thomas L. Saaty is an academic researcher from University of Pittsburgh. The author has contributed to research in topics: Analytic hierarchy process & Analytic network process. The author has an hindex of 92, co-authored 375 publications receiving 95026 citations. Previous affiliations of Thomas L. Saaty include College of Business Administration & Politécnico Grancolombiano.

Principles of the analytic hierarchy process

Abstract: Cognitive psychologists have classified thinking into two types. This division has gone by many names. Aristotle referred to it as active versus passive reason [35]; Freud [10] as secondary versus primary process thinking; and Hobbes [14] as thought with or without “designe.” More recently the division has been referred to as directed versus autistic thinking [4] and operant versus respondent thought [16]. The terms Varendinck [33] uses for the division may be most familiar to the layman. He noted the classification as one between conscious and foreconscious or affective thought. Adopting this familiar terminology, conscious thought appears to differ from affective thought in that it is directed, checked against feedback, evaluated in terms of its effectiveness in advancing specific goals, and protected from drift by deliberately controlled attention by the thinker [16].

The Analytic Hierarchy Process: wash criteria should not be ignored

Abstract: In this short paper it is shown that care is required to perform the appropriate normalisation needed to derive the right set of priorities from paired comparisons when criteria are added or deleted in a decision problem. This is particularly true for criteria with respect to which the alternatives have equal priorities and may be thought by someone to be of no consequence in ranking the alternatives. It is easy to see that small perturbation of the equal values of the alternatives with respect to an overwhelmingly important criterion can make a substantial difference to the final priorities of the alternatives if that criterion, called a wash criterion, is blindly deleted from the set of criteria. Background discussion and examples by some authors who did not examine it in the depth needed to understand its consequences are given to demonstrate how to deal with this artificially concocted idea.

The Analytic Hierarchy Process

Abstract: This chapter provides an overview of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is a systematic procedure for representing the elements of any problem hierarchically. It organizes the basic rationality by breaking down a problem into its smaller constituent parts and then guides decision makers through a series of pair-wise comparison judgments to express the relative strength or intensity of impact of the elements in the hierarchy. These judgments are then translated to numbers. The AHP includes procedures and principles used to synthesize the many judgments to derive priorities among criteria and subsequently for alternative solutions. It is useful to note that the numbers thus obtained are ratio scale estimates and correspond to so-called hard numbers. Problem solving is a process of setting priorities in steps. One step decides on the most important elements of a problem, another on how best to repair, replace, test, and evaluate the elements, and another on how to implement the solution and measure performance.

Fuzzy Set Theory - and Its Applications

Abstract: Fuzzy Set Theory - And Its Applications, Third Edition is a textbook for courses in fuzzy set theory. It can also be used as an introduction to the subject. The character of a textbook is balanced with the dynamic nature of the research in the field by including many useful references to develop a deeper understanding among interested readers. The book updates the research agenda (which has witnessed profound and startling advances since its inception some 30 years ago) with chapters on possibility theory, fuzzy logic and approximate reasoning, expert systems, fuzzy control, fuzzy data analysis, decision making and fuzzy set models in operations research. All chapters have been updated. Exercises are included.

Principles of Neural Science

Abstract: I have developed "tennis elbow" from lugging this book around the past four weeks, but it is worth the pain, the effort, and the aspirin. It is also worth the (relatively speaking) bargain price. Including appendixes, this book contains 894 pages of text. The entire panorama of the neural sciences is surveyed and examined, and it is comprehensive in its scope, from genomes to social behaviors. The editors explicitly state that the book is designed as "an introductory text for students of biology, behavior, and medicine," but it is hard to imagine any audience, interested in any fragment of neuroscience at any level of sophistication, that would not enjoy this book. The editors have done a masterful job of weaving together the biologic, the behavioral, and the clinical sciences into a single tapestry in which everyone from the molecular biologist to the practicing psychiatrist can find and appreciate his or