AN INTERPRETATION OF THE AHP EIGENVECTOR SOLUTION FOR THE LAY PERSON

Abstract

An AHP priority vector represents the importance, preference, or likelihood of its elements with respect to a certain property or criterion and here we examine how that priority vector can be derived through an iterative process applied to the pairwise comparison matrix. Further, we show that the vector obtained in this way satisfies the definition for an eigenvector of the original judgment matrix. Practical managers using AHP in decision making would most likely be better able to appreciate this approach than they would a process phrased in the language of linear algebra. The overall priority vector for the alternatives in a hierarchy and, further, in a network, can be obtained in the same way by applying the iterative process to the supermatrix of the ANP. This claim is examined in depth in a forthcoming paper that will appear in this journal. http://dx.doi.org/10.13033/ijahp.v2i2.42