The Highway Department is considering using a 6-month MA to forecast crew hours needed to repair roads month by month for the coming year. To test whether this method is accurate, use last year’s data (shown in the following table) to predict the last 6 months’ crew hours to compare with the observed values. Start with the average of January through June to compare with the actual value of 200 for July and so on through December.

Month Crew Hours January 110 February 120 March 140 April 180 May 250 June 200 July 200 Month Crew Hours August 220 September 280 October 120 November 100 December 80