Fitting a linear trend to 36 monthly data points (January 2011 = 1,February 2011 =2,March 2011 = 3,etc.)produced the following tables. The projected trend value for January 2014 is ________.
A)544.29
B)868.61
C)652.39
D)760.50
E)876.90

Question

Fitting a linear trend to 36 monthly data points (January 2011 = 1,February 2011 =2,March 2011 = 3,etc.)produced the following tables.   The projected trend value for January 2014 is ________.
A)544.29 
B)868.61 
C)652.39 
D)760.50 
E)876.90

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

From the table, we see that the slope of the linear trend is 15.22. Therefore, we can use the equation y = mx + b, where y is the trend value, m is the slope, x is the number of months after January 2011, and b is the y-intercept. Plugging in x = 36 (which represents December 2013), we get y = 15.22(36) + 1 = 547.72. However, we need to find the trend value for January 2014, which is one month later. Therefore, we need to subtract the slope from the December 2013 trend value to get the January 2014 trend value: 547.72 - 15.22 = 544.50. Rounded to two decimal places, the answer is A) 544.29.

Fitting a Linear Trend to 36 Monthly Data Points (January