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See also: ModelRisk functions and windows, Statistical descriptions of model outputs, Graphical descriptions of model outputs, Graphics, workflow and error handling in ModelRisk
Quickly jump to:
- Common
fields and buttons
- Summary
statistics table
- Preview
graphs
- Errors
Certain elements appear in many ModelRisk windows. For example, a table with summary statistics; graphs; and fields like the output field.
This topic gives a more in-depth explanation about these elements and how to use them.
Most of the ModelRisk windows correspond to a VoseFunction (e.g. an aggregate distribution, sampled value from a spliced distribution, etc...) being inserted in one or more spreadsheet cells. The location where the VoseFunction is to be inserted in the spreadsheet, is specified in the Output Location field. The desired VoseFunction will be inserted upon pressing the OK button, after which the ModelRisk window closes.
Pressing the
Cancel button closes the window
without modifying the spreadsheet in any way. Pressing the Esc
keyboard button has the same effect.
The Generate button re-generates the random values for the preview graph(s) in the window.
With the M and C buttons you can switch between viewing the Probability Density (or Mass), or cumulative graphs of the distribution(s) shown.
Distributions and their properties play a central
role in risk analysis modeling.
In all ModelRisk windows that have a function related to distributions (which many do), a table with summary statistics of the currently selected/loaded/previewed distribution is shown on the right. For ease of use, this table always contains the same elements, regardless of the specific ModelRisk window it is in. These elements are:
Location
- Mean
- Median
- Mode
- Min
- Max
Spread
- Standard
deviation (St. dev.)
- Variance
- Coefficient
of Variation (CofV)
Shape
- Skewness
(S)
- Kurtosis
(K)
Where it is relevant, the following statistics are shown as well:
Markers
Markers can be edited in the statistics pane. Use markers to see the x-values corresponding to percentiles, and vice versa. For example, the image shows what you see when setting the LowerX value to -1 and the UpperX value to 1 for a normal(0,1):
- LowerX - the lower marker value
(-infinity by default)
- UpperX - the Upper marker value
(+infinity by default)
- LowerP - the Lower marker's Percentile
value (0 by default)
- UpperP - the Upper marker's Percentile
value (1 by default)
- X Spread - the range between
the markers, i.e. UpperX - LowerX
- P Spread - the percentile range
between the markers, i.e. UpperP - LowerP
The marker settings shown in the image correspond to this PDF plot:
Percentiles
The 1st, 5th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 95th and 99th percentiles
are always shown. If the ModelRisk window is enlarged (by dragging its
lower right corner), additional percentiles are shown.
In windows
where distributions play a role, the PDF or PMF, CDF or both graphs are
shown.
When you hold the mouse pointer above a graph, it comes "in focus" and all other visible elements are greyed out, for easily pointing somebody to a certain graph.
The graphs update dynamically according to the distribution's parameter values when these can be specified within the window.
On top of graphs are the graph toolbar buttons. Below is explained what you can do with the most important of these buttons. Note that these buttons are not necessarily all present in a given ModelRisk window.
Copy
to clipboard, either as a bitmap, metafile or text (data only).
This allows you to use the graph image in other programs, like MS
PowerPoint, or for your web site... (try copying as
bitmap, and then pasting in MS Paint by pressing CTRL+V)
- To copy the image as you see it presented, including colors etc...
choose As a bitmap. This
is the "normal" way to copy an image to the clipboard, like
you are probably used to doing in Windows.
- You can also copy the image to the clipboard as
a metafile (WMF), the Windows vector file format. An advantage
of vector graphics is that they can be rescaled without quality loss
(in the proper program). Most fonts
in Windows are basically vector graphics, for example.
- You can also copy the (randomly sampled) source data, used to construct
the preview graphs, as text
to the clipboard. For a PDF graph this is a set of (x,y) pairs, for
example.
Print.
This will take you to the common Windows dialog for selecting a printer,
adjusting printing options, and of course print the graph(s).
Palette
Selector. You can adjust the graphs colors to one of the preset
color palettes. Note that every graph element can be formatted individually
as well by right-clicking it.
Zoom. To zoom in to a part of the
plot, press the Zoom button and then drag a rectangle in the graph
area. This will zoom in to this graph. To zoom out again, press the
Zoom button again.
Edit
X axis. This allows you to set the boundaries shown for the
X-axis, or to toggle "auto scale mode" (to scale the X axis
automatically).
Properties.
Change more properties of the graph, like colors of every element,
font formatting, 3D view...
Export
options. Whenever a ModelRisk window has more
than one type of output to insert in the spreadsheet, these Window-specific
types of output can be accessed with the Export options button above
the preview graph.
Whenever a preview graph has boundaries (visualized by vertical lines), these can be dragged along the graph to change the corresponding boundary value.
By right-clicking anywhere in the graph area, you can quickly access many of the above through the context menu that pops up.
In ModelRisk windows, a descriptive
error message is shown in red when appropriate. For example, the bivariate
copula requires an Alpha parameter
between -35 and 36. If the currently chosen Alpha
lies outside of this range, this will be pointed out in red. For more
information about errors in ModelRisk, click here.
For general troubleshooting, also see the FAQ - Troubleshooting topic.
