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The Analytic Hierarchy Process—An Exposition

School of Business and Public Management, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052
Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
forman{at}gwu.edu
sgass{at}rhsmith.umd.edu

This exposition on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) has the following objectives: (1) to discuss why AHP is a general methodology for a wide variety of decision and other applications, (2) to present brief descriptions of successful applications of the AHP, and (3) to elaborate on academic discourses relevant to the efficacy and applicability of the AHP vis-a-vis competing methodologies. We discuss the three primary functions of the AHP: structuring complexity, measurement on a ratio scale, and synthesis, as well as the principles and axioms underlying these functions. Two detailed applications are presented in a linked document at http://mdm.gwu.edu/FormanGass.pdf.

Subject classifications: Decision analysis: multiple criteria.
History: Received January 1999; revision received July 1999; revision received September 1999; accepted October 1999.

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