Steve Barney said: > IF YOU DO THE DECOMPOSITION WITH THESE > MATRIXES, IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU FIND THE REVERSAL TERMS OR THE > CONDORCET (CYCLIC) TERMS FIRST.
That approach gives us profiles where -12 voters or whatever have a given preference order. It is undoubtedly a mathematical fact that order does not matter if you use those matrices and allow for negative numbers of voters having a given preference order in the final decomposition. The only question is, what mathematical approach gives the most useful/interesting description of reality. I do not doubt the validity of the statement that order of operations does not matter when you use Saari's approach. I just question the importance of his ideas when you want to understand real situations. So, in the end, Saari's statements are correct as mathematical statements. Whether they provide useful/relevant insights is the question where you and I will just have to agree to disagree. Remember that even the most rigorous math in the world is irrelevant if it doesn't provide a useful description of what you're trying to study and understand. Alex ---- For more information about this list (subscribe, unsubscribe, FAQ, etc), please see http://www.eskimo.com/~robla/em
