
96 Decision Based Design
3.10.5.2 Utility Independence
An attribute is utility independent of others if the certainty equivalent of any
lottery over the attribute has the same value regardless of where the values
of the other attributes are xed.
=∀
constant
,
CE ydom
i
yjfixed j
i
(3.37)
Consider the above decision situation with fuel economy and accelera-
tion. Let us say that the decision maker is asked to value a car that pro-
vides a 0–60 acceleration of 6 seconds, but the fuel economy is normally
distributed with mean 25 mpg and standard deviation 2 mpg. Assume
a risk-averse decision maker who, let us say, values the fuel economy at
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