J
James Silverton
I recently had occasion to want numbers from a normal distribution and was
surprised to find that, AFAIK, Excel does not have a function for that. I
know and used the easy, if clumsy looking, 12-value "sum of random deviates"
method for values with mean 0 and standard deviation 1:
x=(SUM(i-1,12)rand() ) -6
Or writing that slightly differently:
x = -6+RAND()+RAND()+RAND()........(12 values)
I am aware that this method is often suggested on the Net but has anyone had
much experience with it and how well does it work in Excel? Is it worthwhile
thinking about more elaborate functions in, for example, Abramowitz and
Stegun's book?
TIA,
surprised to find that, AFAIK, Excel does not have a function for that. I
know and used the easy, if clumsy looking, 12-value "sum of random deviates"
method for values with mean 0 and standard deviation 1:
x=(SUM(i-1,12)rand() ) -6
Or writing that slightly differently:
x = -6+RAND()+RAND()+RAND()........(12 values)
I am aware that this method is often suggested on the Net but has anyone had
much experience with it and how well does it work in Excel? Is it worthwhile
thinking about more elaborate functions in, for example, Abramowitz and
Stegun's book?
TIA,