Forecasting
Simple Moving Average
Moving averages are often useful in recording of forecasting sales figures, expenses or manufacturing volume. There are many different types of moving average calculations. An often used, straightforward method of calculation is presented here.
In a moving average a specified number of data points are averaged. When there is a new piece of input data, the oldest piece of data is discarded to make room for the latest input. This replacement scheme makes the moving average a valuable tool in following trends. The fewer the number of data points, the more trend sensitive the average becomes. With a large number of data points, the average behaves more like a regular average, responding slowly to new input data.
A simple moving average may be calculated with your HP 12C as follows.
1.Press 
CLEAR 
.
2.Key in the first m data points (where m is the number of data points in the
average) and press 
after each entry.
3.Press 
to obtain the first average.
4.Key in the oldest (first value) entered in step 2 and press 
.
5.Key in the newest data point (m + 1) and press 
.
6.Press 
to obtain the next value of the moving average.
7.Repeat steps 4 through 5 for the remaining data.
Example: An electronics sales firm wished to calculate a
January | $211,570 |
February | 112,550 |
March | 190,060 |
April | 131,760 |
May | 300,500 |
June | 271,120 |
Keystrokes
Display
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