Contradiction Matrix (Altshuller Matrix)

The contradiction matrix is the best-known TRIZ tool. Both of its axes carry the same 39 generic engineering parameters (weight, length, strength, temperature, measurement accuracy, …): one axis for the parameter to be improved, the other for the one that degrades.

The addressed cell names three to four inventive principles that Altshuller found most frequently in patents for exactly this parameter pair. The matrix is therefore not a computation but an empirical frequency statistic over patented solutions.

• Step 1 — translate the concrete technical contradiction into two of the 39 parameters
• Step 2 — read the cell and look up the principles named there
• Step 3 — map every principle back onto your own case; not all of them will carry