Simulation output
The simulation output provides statistics on the output and input variables for each round. The statistics are calculated over the iterations in a single round of the simulation. These statistics for each variable are:
- Variable type and name - input variables are labeled as '(Input)'.
- Min – Minimum value of variable among iterations of round.
- Mean – Arithmetic mean of variable among iterations of round.
- Max – Maximum value of variable among all iterations of round.
- Median – Median of variable among iterations of round.
- Mode – Mode value among iterations of round. For the input variable, this will be “#N/A”.
- Std. Dev. - Standard deviation of the variable.
- Variance – Second moment of variable.
- Skewness - Third moment of variable.
- Kurtosis – Fourth moment of variable.
- Range – Difference between min and max of variable among iterations of the round.
- Count – Number of iterations in round.
- Confidence (95%) - 95% confidence interval of value, centered on mean.
- Lower Limit (95%) - Lower limit of 95% confidence interval of the value, centered on the mean.
- Upper Limit (95%) - Upper limit of 95% confidence interval of the value, centered on the mean.
The output will include a heading, then a table for each round of the simulation. Judicious choice of output variables will also include any intermediate values of interest in the simulation in this table. Each row of the output table has statistics of the values of a variable over the iterations of the simulation as shown in Figure 6-10.
The output will be of the input variables and the output variables that were variables tab of the Simulation window . For the input variables, the output will be the statistics of the random variable used in modeling the input variables. For the output variables, the statistics will be of the output variable. These statistics, in particular the standard deviation and confidence interval, should be examined to ensure the simulation was at a precision adequate for the purpose. Some notes on how to use these statistics for refining the simulation design can be found in Section 6.4.6 ― Determining the number of iterations.