Projecting Monthly Computer Sales
Ms. Winnie Lynn's company sells computers monthly sales for a six-month period are as follows.
January 18,000
February 22,000
March 16,000
April 18,000
May 20,000
June 24000
a.) Plot the monthly data
b.) Compute the sales forecast for July using the following approaches:
1.) 4 month moving average,
2.) A weighted three-month moving average (using .5 for June and .3 for May and .2 for April)
3.) A linear trend equation, simple exponential moving with smoothing constant equal to.4 and assuming February forecast of 18,000
c.) Which method do you think is least appropriate? Why?