Create Random Data

The Create Random Data tool allows you to create randomly generated data for an analysis. This tool is available for life data folios, life-stress data folios, DOE design folios and reliability growth data folios.

To use the tool, select the range of cells for which you would like to fill with random data, then right-click any of the selected cells and choose Random Data on the shortcut menu. This launches the Create Random Data window, which provides the following options:

  • Columns to Fill and Rows to Fill areas, select which columns/rows in the data sheet to populate with random data. If you had selected a range of cells before accessing the tool, the fields will be populated automatically.
  • Generated Data area, choose the method for generating the random data:
    • Random data allows you to specify a range of numerical values from which the tool will randomly select data points. The range is specified using a starting point and a variability value (in decimals) that describe how far the values can vary from the starting point. For example, if you specified a starting point of 100 and a percent variability of 0.2, the data points would be randomly selected from a set of values that ranges from 80 to 120.

      If you clear the check boxes, the tool will use a randomly selected starting point and/or variability for each column of data.
    • Random values in a range allows you to specify a minimum and maximum range of numerical values from which the tool will randomly select data points.
    • Random points from a set of values allows you to manually define a set of values from which the randomly selected data points will be chosen. These can be quantitative or qualitative values, each separated by a comma (with or without a space). For example, if you are randomly entering values for a column that only accepts the values "F" and "S," you would enter F, S in this field.

When you select one of the first two options in the Generated Data area, the Decimal places field will be enabled, which allows you to specify the number of decimal places that will be used for each randomly generated data point.

Note: Generating large numbers of stress levels in Accelerated Life Testing may affect software performance.