| The Fundamental Scale for Pairwise Comparisons | ||
| Intensity of Importance | Definition | Explanation |
| 1 | Equal importance | Two elements contribute equally to the objective |
| 3 | Moderate importance | Experience and judgment moderately favor one element over another |
| 5 | Strong importance | Experience and judgement strongly favor one element over another |
| 7 | Very strong importance | One element is favored very strongly over another, its dominance is demonstrated in practice |
| 9 | Extreme importance | The evidence favoring one element over another is of the highest possible order of affirmation |
| Intensities of 2, 4, 6, and 8 can be used to express intermediate values. Intensities of 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc. can be used for elements that are very close in importance. | ||