Excel Instructions – Exponential Distribution

Excel Instructions – Exponential Distribution: “Exponential

Excel cannot directly generate data from an exponential; however, the following procedure can be used to obtain random observations from an exponential distribution.

The first step is to create a set of uniform random numbers between 0 and 1, see Uniform for more information.

To obtain the exponential random numbers, we need to use the following formula:

exponential random number = – mean*log(1 – unif, 2.71828)

where

mean is the mean for the exponential distribution

unif is a uniform random number

Note: Don’t forget the – in front of the mean.

Copy the formula down for all observations. See ‘How do I edit my work?’ for more information on copy and pasting. “

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