The following table represents two years of data:

Year 1 Year 2 1st quarter 242 1st quarter 272 2nd quarter 252 2nd quarter 267 3rd quarter 257 3rd quarter 276 4th quarter 267 4th quarter 281

a. Prepare a single exponential smoothing forecast for the first quarter of year 3 using an alpha value of 0.10. Let the initial forecast value for quarter 1 of year 1 be 250.

b. Prepare a single exponential smoothing forecast for the first quarter of year 3 using an alpha value of 0.25. Let the initial forecast value for quarter 1 of year 1 be 250.

c. Calculate the MAD value for the forecasts you generated in parts a and

b. Which alpha value provides the smaller MAD value at the end of the 4th quarter in year 2?