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HomeTroubleshooting@RISK for Excel: Simulation"Found invalid formula ... Continue without detecting RiskMakeInput precedents properly?"

4.39. "Found invalid formula ... Continue without detecting RiskMakeInput precedents properly?"

Applies to: @RISK 6.x/7.x

When I click Start Simulation, I get the message

Found invalid formula "..." in "...". Continue without detecting RiskMakeInput precedents properly?

Or,

The reference "..." in "..." has an OFFSET or INDIRECT, whose precedents cannot be traced. Continue without detecting RiskMakeInput precedents properly?

What is wrong, and how do I fix it?

This is a similar issue to the message "Found invalid formula ... Continue without Smart Sensitivity Analysis?", but it is detected at a different point.

The RiskMakeInput( ) function lets you make any formula behave like an @RISK input. Then in sensitivity analysis the tornado diagrams show sensitivity of the outputs to the value of this formula as a whole, not to any components of the formula and not to any precedents of the formula. At the start of a simulation, @RISK catalogs all distributions that are used only as precedents or components of a RiskMakeInput( ), so that it will know to exclude them from sensitivity analysis after the simulation. If @RISK can't interpret a formula, it won't be able to detect those precedents properly.

The cure is to change the referenced formula to one that @RISK can interpret; see the list and hints in the article referenced above. There is no @RISK setting to ignore RiskMakeInput( ) precedent checking, as there is with Smart Sensitivity Analysis. If you can't change the formula, you'll need to click Yes each time you run a simulation.

See also: All Articles about RiskMakeInput.

Last edited: 2015-10-14

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