Monthly loan applications for a local bank from 2002 through 2005 were as shown in the table.
a. Combining the monthly applications for each year, fit a linear trend equation and forecast the number of applications for 2008.
b. Determine the seasonal indexes and break the 2008 forecast in part (a) into its monthly components.
c. Combining monthly applications for each year, use exponential smoothing and α = 0.4 to obtain a forecast for 2006.
d. Use the seasonal indexes to break the 2006 forecast in part (c) into its monthly components.