Max Time and Iterations

The Max Time and Iterations settings determine how much time, or computing effort, the Solver will expend on a problem before asking you whether you want to stop. You may need to increase these settings from their default values, in order to solve larger problems. Bear in mind that if the maximum time or maximum number of iterations is exceeded, the Solver stops and displays a dialog like the one below: You will have the option to stop at that point or to continue the solution process. If you click on the Continue button, the time and iteration limits are removed, and you will not be prompted again.

There is really no downside to specifying quite a large value for the Max Time or Iterations setting: If you ever get impatient, you can simply press the ESC key while the Solver is running. If your model is large enough to take some time to recalculate even once, you should hold down the ESC key for a second or two. After a momentary delay, the dialog box shown below will appear, and you will have the option to stop at that point or continue with the solution process.