1. The Fastgro Fertilizer Company distributes fertilizer to various lawn and garden shops. The company must base its quarterly production schedule on a forecast of how many tons of fertilizer will be demanded from it. The company has gathered the following data for the past 3 years from its sales records

Quarter.      Demand For Fertilizer (tons)

1                     105

2                    150

3                    93

4                  121

5                  140

6                 170

7                105

8               150

9              150

10           170

11           110

12          130

a.Compute a three-quarter moving average forecast (MA3) for quarters 4 through 13 and compute the forecast error for each quarter.

b. Compute a five-quarter moving average forecast (MA5) for quarters 6 through 13 and compute the forecast error for each quarter.

c.Compute a weighted three-quarter moving average forecast for quarters 4 through 13, using weights of 0.50, 0.33, and 0.17 for the most recent, next most recent, and third most recent data points (WMA3(.5,.33,.17)) and compute the forecast error for each quarter.

d. Compare the forecasts using Bias and MAD. Which method do you think is best