Defining Preference
Utility is one of the methodology implemented by D-Sight allowing preference modeling. When using utility functions, the alternatives are directly scored according to their performance. However, the scoring is not "as direct as" in the weighted sum. Indeed, thanks to the function, the performance of the alternative is transformed into a "utility".
In the first example hereunder, a price criterion is considered. The utility is linearly decreasing with the price. You could also imagine that the slope is different when reaching a specific price or simply to exclude the alternative above it.
Utility allows you to have any kind of preference behavior. The second image illustrates a case in which we would look for a specific value (e.g. a temperature). In that case, when not at the target temperature, you would prefer the alternative to be hotter than colder. This is illustrated below.
