Axioms of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and its Generalization to Dependence and Feedback: The Analytic Network Process (ANP)

Abstract: The AHP/ANP are multicriteria decision-making theories that deal with both hierarchic structures when the criteria are independent of the alternatives and with networks when there is any dependence within and between elements of the decision. Both of them have been repeatedly used in practice by various researchers and practitioners. From the perspective of almost 40 years of practice in solving problems using both theories, some of their properties seem to be more important than others. The article indicates four of them as fundamental for understanding AHP/ANP. These are the axioms related to structure, computation, and expectation. The mathematical formulation of the axioms is preceded by an introduction explaining the motivation behind the introduced concepts. The article is expository and it is an improved and refined version of the work [1].