  Contemporary decision theorists typically interpret utility as a measure of preference, so that to say that \(A\) has greater utility than \(B\) (for an agent) is simply to say that the agent prefers \(A\) to \(B\). It is crucial to this approach that preferences hold not just between outcomes (such as amounts of pleasure, or combinations of pleasure and knowledge), but also between uncertain prospects (such as a lottery that pays $1 million dollars if a particular coin lands heads, and results in an hour of painful electric shocks if the coin lands tails). Section 2 of this article addresses the formal relationship between preference and choice in detail.