| The serial number | Level of importance | |
| 1 | The I and j elements are equally important | 1 |
| 2 | The I element is slightly more important than the j element | 3 |
| 3 | The I element is significantly more important than the j element | 5 |
| 4 | The I element is more important than the j element | 7 |
| 5 | The I element is slightly less important than the j element | 1/3 |
| 6 | The I element is obviously less important than the j element | 1/5 |
| 7 | It doesn’t matter that the I element is stronger than the j element | 1/7 |