Pairwise comparison matrices are often used in Multi-attribute
Decision Making for weighting the attributes or for the evaluation
of the alternatives with respect to a criteria. Matrices provided
by the decision makers are rarely consistent and it is important
to index the degree of inconsistency. In the paper,
the minimal number of matrix elements by the modification of which
the pairwise comparison matrix can be made consistent is examined.
From practical point of view, the modification of 1, 2, or,
for larger matrices, 3 elements seems to be relevant.
These cases are characterized by using the graph representation of
the matrices. Empirical examples illustrate that pairwise comparison
matrices that can be made consistent by the modification of a few
elements are present in the applications
