The table below is a part from an Excel spreadsheet. It presents the sales and COGS of Company XYZ for the years from 2012 and 2016, and the estimated sales for 2017. As a financial analyst, you are asked by the management of the company to forecast the COGS for 2017. You decide to use the TREND function to estimate the COGS as a function of sales (i.e. ). Which of the following formula should you enter in Cell C7 to forecast the COGS for 2017?

a. TREND(C2:C6, B2:B6, B7)

b. TREND(C2:C6, A2:A6, A7)

c. TREND(B2:B6, C2:C6, B7)

d. TREND(A2:A6, C2:C6, A7)

A B Cost of 1 Year Sales Goods Sold 2012 1,890,532 1,570,200 3 2013 2,098,490 1,695,694 4 2014 2,350,308 1,992,400 5 2015 3,432,000 2,864,000 6 2016 3,850,000 3,250,000 7 2017* 4,300,000