Sharon Johnson, sales manager for the Alvarez-Baines Company, is trying to choose between two methods for forecasting sales that she has been using during the past five months. During these months, the two methods obtained the forecasts shown next for the company's most important product, where the subsequent actual sales are shown on the right.

a. Calculate and compare MAD for these two forecasting methods. Then do the same with MSE.
b. Sharon is uncomfortable with choosing between these two methods based on such limited data, but she also does not want to delay further before making her choice. She does have similar sales data for the three years prior to using these forecasting methods the past five months. How can these older data be used to further help her evaluate the two methods and choose one?

Transcribed Image Text:

Forecast Actual Sales 5,582 4,906 5,755 6,320 5,153 Method 1 5,324 5,405 5,195 5,511 5,762 Method 2 Month 5,208 5,377 5,462 5,414 5,549