| Degree of Importance | Meaning |
| 1 | Equally important |
| 3 | The former is slightly more important than the latter |
| 5 | The former is apparently more important than the latter |
| 7 | The former is strongly more important than the latter |
| 9 | The former is extremely more important than the latter |
| 2, 4, 6, 8 | Intermediate values |
| Inverse | If the importance ratio of i and j is aij, the ratio of j and I is aji = 1/aij |