The chairperson of the department of management at Tech wants to forecast the number of students who will enroll in operations management next semester in order to determine
how many sections to schedule. The chair has accumulated the following enrollment data for the past eight semesters:
Semester Students Enrolled in OM
1 ..................270
2 ..................310
3 ..................250
4 ..................290
5 ..................370
6 ..................410
7 ..................400
8 ..................450
a. Compute a three-semester moving average forecast for semesters 4 through 9.
b. Compute the exponentially smoothed forecast (α =0.20) for the enrollment data.
c. Compare the two forecasts using MAD and indicate the most accurate.