Home → Techniques and Tips → @RISK Distributions → Cell References in Distributions
Applies to: @RISK 4.x–7.x
Must I specify the X's and P's as fixed numbers in the RiskDiscrete, RiskCumul, RiskCumulD, RiskDUniform, RiskHistogrm, or RiskGeneral distribution, or can I replace them with cell references? What about RiskSimtable — can I use cell references instead of fixed numbers?
You can replace the list of numbers with cell references without braces, but the referenced cells must be a contiguous array in a row or a column. It's not possible to collect cells from multiple locations in the workbook.
Example 1:
=RiskCumul(0, 10, {1,5,9}, {.1,.7,.9})
If the probabilities are in cells C1, C2, C3, then you replace the second set of braces and numbers with an array reference, like this:
=RiskCumul(0, 10, {1,5,9}, C1:C3)
If the numbers (X values) are in cells D1, D2, D3, then you replace the first set of braces and numbers with an array reference, like this:
=RiskCumul(0, 10, D1:D3, {.1,.7,.9})
And you can replace both the X's and the P's with array references, like this:
=RiskCumul(0, 10, D1:D3, C1:C3)
Example 2:
=RiskSimtable({10,20,30,40})
If the scenario numbers are in cells IP201 through IS201, then you replace the braces and numbers with an array reference, like this:
=RiskSimtable(IP201:IS201)
These rules might seem arbitrary, but they're actually standard Excel. The @RISK distribution functions mentioned above take one or two array arguments. Excel lets you specify a constant array, which is a series of numbers enclosed in braces; or you can specify a range of cells, which is a contiguous series of cells in one row or one column. Excel doesn't have any provision for making an array out of scattered cells.
Additional keywords: Simtable, Discrete distribution, Cumul distribution, CumulD distribution, DUniform distribution, Histogram distribution, General distribution
Last edited: 2015-06-19