The Analytic Hierarchy Process: A 1993 overview

This is an overview of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). It illustrates three of the five methods of measurement of the subject in decision making. They are relative measurements a) the distribution mode using normalization to allow for appropriate rank reversal b) the ideal mode to allow for rank preservation and absolute measurement which utilizes intensities for the criteria used to rate alternatives, one at a time useful with expert knowledge. Two other modes of the AHP, which are feedback and the supermatrix and continuous comparisons in the context of integral equations, are briefly mentioned. The overview also includes the axioms of the AHP and a brief mention of the areas of application.