Applies to: @RISK 5.x and Up

 

Changing the Value Displayed in a Cell when a Simulation is not Running

 

By default, when a simulation is not running, @RISK displays static values for distributions. These values do not change during Excel recalculation.

For continuous distributions, the static value is the mean (expected value).
For discrete distributions, the static value is the distribution value closest to the mean (for example, RiskBinomial(9,0.7) displays 6, not 6.3).

Outputs usually display values calculated from the displayed input values, not their own simulated mean.

You can change what static values are displayed without affecting simulations:

Choose which static value to display
You can display the expected value, true expected value, mode, or a selected percentile for all distributions:

• Simulation Settings → General tab (bottom half): applies to all open workbooks

• Utilities → Application Settings → Default Simulation Settings → Standard Recalc: applies to all open and future workbooks

Expected value vs. true expected value

• Continuous distributions: they are the same (mean).

• Discrete distributions:

  • True expected value = actual mean (e.g., 1.32)

  • Expected value = nearest value in the distribution (e.g., 1)

If you want the textbook mean for discrete distributions, choose true expected value.

Override static value for one distribution
Use RiskStatic( ) inside the distribution, for example:
=RiskNormal(100,10,RiskStatic(25))

Display random values instead of static values
You can make distributions recalc with new random values (no simulation running) by switching from static to random:

• Click the rolling dice icon (Random/Static Standard Recalculation), or

• Simulation Settings → General tab → select Random Values

You can also set this as the default in Application Settings.