Solve the below:
Q: Ms. Winnie Lin's company sells computers. Monthly sales for a six-month period are as follows:
Month Sales
Jan 18,000
Feb 22,000
Mar 16,000
Apr 18,000
May 20,000
Jun 24,000
a. Plot the monthly data on a sheet of graph paper.
b. Compute the sales forecast for July using the following approaches: (1) a three-month moving average; (2) a weighted three-month moving average using .50 for June, .30 for May, and .20 for April; (3) a linear trend equation; (4) exponential smoothing with a (smoothing constant) equal to .40, assuming a February forecast of 18,000.
c. Which method do you think is the least appropriate? Why?
d, Calculate the MAD for each of the four techniques in part b. Which is the best? Why?