A stitch in time “A stitch in time saves nine,” people say when they want you to do something now rather than later. But not everyone will be swayed by that sort of concern. Suppose that you can choose between one stitch at time zero and nine stitches at time one, and that each stitch gives you a utility of −1. What does it take for you to prefer the one stitch now? Indifference can be represented graphically. Indifference between options a and b in Example 8.16 means that the picture would look like Figure 8.3. It can easily be ascertained that a strict preference for a over b would imply that δ < 1/3 and that a strict preference for b over a would imply that δ > 1/3.