As simple mathematics will help you with your purchase decision

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"How many things I can not choose!" - we often think of when you need to buy something. No matter what - the printer, coffee or sofa. Nowadays, in an era of huge choice, we spend hours reading reviews and comparing models. Wasting time, annoying quarrel with relatives. We regret that you have chosen not or not at that price. How many times have we said to ourselves: "Eyes run! It would be two options, I would have chosen, and did not suffer. " Indeed, in times of scarcity, our mothers did not know of these sufferings.

Of course, not all that suffering. Satisficing & Maximising, one of the most famous theories of behavioral economics, divides people by type of behavior in the selection of two types:

• Satisficer (S) comes into the store, seeing the right thing, and estimates the cost of buying. And no regrets. Came, saw and bought.
• Maximiser (M) the purchase of, for example, the phone will turn into a story. He will read the comments on the forums. Examine the range of a few shops. Will set up a couple of dozen of filters to "Yandex. Market ", will receive several hundred variants with a break in the price of a few thousand or a few tens of sellers. And if he shows willpower and will not rush in search, then regret on "it was necessary to look for more," he assured.
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Familiar? If you are experiencing M and flour when choosing a tablet, spend many hours on the selection of wallpaper, and buy shoes with tears in his eyes, then read on.

5 Simple Steps to take action

Theory decision making It offers many methods to search for the best variant of the many possible. One of them - multi-criteria decision-making model based on the ranking criteria and evaluating alternatives. Its simplified version will help to optimize the selection process.

1. Analyze desire, select criteria, give up wrong

Imagine that you are inexperienced parents and you need to choose a stroller for the baby. Decide what features are important strollers. For example, we need large wheels to not get stuck in snowdrifts. Narrow model, as in the house of a narrow elevator. Low weight. The criteria may be different: the color, compact when folded, the availability of additional accessories.

Let's say you have chosen such criteria: throughput, weight and cost. Set the cut-off, such as the cost of not more than X rubles, weight no more than Y kilograms. Then you will only suitable options, such as A, B, and C.

2. Determine the rating scale for each criterion

Put options points for each criterion. To test the "weight" rating scale scores and may look like this:

• 5 - the lightest stroller;
• 4 - fairly easy;
• 3 - average;
• 2 - heavy.

For the criterion "cost":

• 5 - cheap;
• 4 - inexpensive;
• 3 - average;
• 2 - dear.

For the criterion of "permeability":

• 5 - large wheels;
• 4 - middle wheels;
• 3 - small wheels.

Next vote carriages for each criterion. Let A wheelchair with large wheels is very expensive, light (ratings: 5, 2: 5). Wheelchair B also has the big wheels, the average cost, heavy (ratings: 5, 3, 2). C - average wheels, inexpensive and easy model (assessment: 4, 4, 5).

For clarity, we can present the data in a table:

3. Spread the criteria in order of importance

Most important, assign the highest index of less important - the lowest.

Obviously, if an inexpensive stroller goes bad in the snow, the choice does not suit us. Therefore, the hierarchy of criteria might look like this:

• Number 1, the most important - cross-country, assigning weight 3;
• № 2 - cost, weight - 2;
• № 3 - lightness, weight - 1.

4. Compute final estimate of each variant

Multiply the index for each criterion on the score for this criterion and add the resulting numbers. The final evaluation will look like this:

• A: (5 × 3) + (2 × 2) + (1 × 5) = 24;
• B: (5 × 3) + (2 × 3) + (1 × 2) = 23;
• C: (3 × 4) + (2 × 4) + (5 × 1) = 25.

5. Analyze the result

It turns out, the best option - C, as he received the highest grade. This stroller and inexperienced parents should buy to safely walk on the sidewalks and unpeeled, if necessary, easy to throw her in the trunk.

conclusions

The described method is suitable for any household needs. With it you can choose everything that can be assessed: an apartment, a car, a tie to his father on 23 February. Criteria for an apartment, for example, are as follows: the cost, the number of rooms, proximity to work, repair. Car: cost, fuel consumption, acceleration to 100 km / h, the amount of luggage. Tie color, cost, material, pattern.

To some it may seem that the method is difficult, but you just need to get used to using it. Action five, the flexible model, it is possible to increase or decrease the number of alternatives and the number of criteria.

Of course, it may happen that to the result the soul does not lie. Then you can select the second largest alternative assessment. Or to add criteria, and perform all the steps again. The main thing is that you will be spared the agonizing, frustrating and time-wasting.