Title: Multiplicative determination of priority weights in a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process

Authors: Tanja Van Hecke

Addresses: Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Ghent University, Voskenslaan 270, Ghent, Belgium

Abstract: Many application fields need evaluation tools and ranking techniques of several alternatives. The multi-criteria decision-making approach, known as the analytic hierarchy process, has yet been extended by a variant based on fuzzy logic, which is useful when dealing with uncertain judgements. This paper describes an important alternative method to determine the fuzzy priority weights of pairwise comparison matrices based on logarithmic calculus as a natural companion of the geometric mean. A significant advantage of our approach is the linear character of the resulting mathematical problem. The linearity allows the use of well-known linear programming techniques. The functioning of the method is illustrated by a numerical example which exposes the consistent way of priority weight determination.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process; AHP; multi-criteria decision-making; MCDM; simplex method; priority weights; fuzzy logic; evaluation criteria; ranking.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMOR.2021.112940

International Journal of Mathematics in Operational Research, 2021 Vol.18 No.2, pp.254 - 263

Received: 04 Oct 2019
Accepted: 31 Dec 2019
Published online: 10 Feb 2021 *

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