Options, formulas, enable iterative calculation, maximum change

[Babosh]

I just watched a video about iteration in Excel 2016, but could not understand what maximum change stands for. I read the excel documentation and various tutorials and still did not grasp it.
Because it says: Microsoft excel halts the calculation after Maximum Iteration or after all values in the formula change by less than Maximum change between iterations.
I played with this in Excel. Wrote a number in A1 and a formula (=A1+B1) in B1 and found out that whatever number I write in A1 and whatever number I choose for Maximum Iteration, any number for Maximum change, lets all iterations be carried out and only too big number for Maximum change lets only one iteration be carried out.
For example:
Maximum iteration = 10, Maximum change = 3
A1=2
B1=20
Maximum iteration = 10, Maximum change = 300
A1=2
B1=2

So what does maximum change stand for?

[Aardigspook]

Maximum Iterations is the number of times Excel will run the calculation before it stops. The higher the number of iterations, the more time Excel will need to recalculate a worksheet.
Maximum Change is an extra limit on this - Excel will run the calculation up to the number of Max Iterations, but stop when the difference between iterations is no more than the Maximum Change. The smaller the number, the more accurate the result and the more time Excel needs to recalculate a worksheet.

With the default settings of 100 and 0.001, Excel will run the calculation 100 times but will stop when the difference between iterations is no more than .001 - even if it's not got to 100 runs yet.

Try these settings:

A1 = 1
A2 = A1 + A2 * 0.1
MI = 10, MC = 1
A2 will stop at 1.1

Then try these:

With MI=10 and MC= 0.1, A2 will stop at 1.11
With MI=100 and MC=0.001 (default), A2 will stop at 1.111

Does that help?

[Babosh]

That is a perfect explanation. I had googled it a lot to find an answer and could not. Thank you so much.

[Aardigspook]

You're welcome, glad I could help.