The Pairwise Comparisons
frame displays one comparison at the time. When one comparison is
completed, a new one is produced. The algorithm consists of two phases:
- In the first phase, comparisons are selected so that all elements
are connected. If more than one comparison connects unconnected elements,
one of the comparisons is selected randomly. As a consequence, when
the same view is compared for two criteria, it is likely that different
comparisons are displayed.
For example, if a view contains 10 elements,
nine comparisons are needed to connect the elements. When the nine
comparisons are completed, priorities can be calculated.
- In the second phase, the algorithm searches for the comparison
that contributes the most information. The algorithm follows these
rules:
- Finds at least two elements that are part of as few comparisons
as possible
- If only two elements are found, those elements are compared
- If more than two elements are found (for example, five elements
are part of two comparisons each), the two elements with the highest
priorities are compared
Note: The algorithm works differently when it has to compensate for
picked elements.