Multi-objective design and Pareto decisions

What this module covers

• Test whether one design dominates another, and say what the definition requires
• Build a Pareto front and read what it does and does not tell you
• Explain why a weighted sum cannot reach a design in a concave dip
• Use crowding and the knee as prompts for discussion, not as decisions
• Show that changing the axes changes the front
• Write a decision record that survives being read six months later

Lessons

1. 17.1

   Domination and the front

   One comparison, applied everywhere — and what it leaves for the engineer to do.

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2. 17.2

   What a weighted sum cannot see

   The demonstration that a single score is not merely a simplification — it makes some good designs unreachable.

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3. 17.3

   Choosing, and recording why

   Knee points, crowding, changing the axes — and the decision record that outlives the decision.

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