| Scale | Implication |
| 1 | The two elements are equally important during comparison |
| 3 | The former element is slightly more important than the latter element during comparison |
| 5 | The former element is obviously more important than the latter element during comparison |
| 7 | The former element is strongly more important than the latter element during comparison |
| 9 | The former element is extremely more important than the latter element during comparison |
| 2, 4, 6, 8 | Intermediate value of the above adjacent judgments |
| Reciprocal | If the importance ratio between element i and element j is aij, then the importance ratio between element j and element i is aji = 1/aij |