ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the analysis on how a decision-maker can interpret the results from the Monte Carlo sampling process. It considers some of the more advanced elements of simulation that are now possible. A somewhat different approach is taken to do this. Simulations can be written quite easily into spreadsheets. The simulations were carried out using Visual Basic modules written within the EXCEL spreadsheet. Even this is no longer absolutely necessary however. The spread of the distribution is described by the standard deviation (SD), and although it is open-ended almost all of the distribution lies within three standard deviations of the mean. Essentially, the mean/SD relationship has to reflect the uncertainty that is associated with that variable. To show the effect of this, the variable 'change in building cost' has been used to generate two very large samples based on the assumption that the variable is normally distributed.
