Question 1:Use the Sales 1 data to answer the following questions

a.Whatisthe forecast for January of theyear2021 using the Exponential Smoothing methodwith?

b.Use Solver to estimate the optimal value of smoothing constants that minimize MSE and evaluate the MSE based on the optimalvalueofit.

MSE =

c.What is the forecast for January of the year 2021 using the Exponential Smoothing methodbased on the optimalvalueof?

d.Comment on the appropriateness of this forecasting method, why. (3 points)

e.Can you apply this forecasting method to the sales 2 data? Why? (3 points)

Sales 1 Data shown in picture below:

Monthly sales data Month Sales 1 Jan-17 2568 Feb-17 2580 Mar-17 2606 Apr-17 2639 May-17 2674 10 Jun-17 2699 11 Jul-17 2728 12 Aug-17 2741 13 Sep-17 2770 14 Oct-17 2808 15 Nov-17 2832 16 Dec-17 2861 17 Jan-18 2901 18 Feb-18 2932 19 Mar-18 2958 20 Apr-18 2974 21 May-18 3008 22 Jun-18 3027 23 Jul-18 3044 24 Aug-18 3071 25 Sep-18 3098 26 Oct-18 3108 27 Nov-18 3134 28 Dec-18 3168 29 Jan-19 3186 30 Feb-19 3221 31 Mar-19 3256 32 Apr-19 3295 33 May-19 3322 34 Jun-19 3343 35 Jul-19 3368 36 Aug-19 3407 37 Sep-19 3426 38 Oct-19 3455 39 Nov-19 3483 40 Dec-19 3509 41 Jan-20 3538 42 Feb-20 3582 43 Mar-20 3600 44 Apr-20 3652 45 May-20 3686 46 Jun-20 3722 Jul-20 3747 48 Aug-20 3770 49 Sep-20 3811 50 Oct-20 3828 51 Nov-20 3862 18 Dec-20 3896 53 Jan-21 54 Feb-21 55 Mar-21 56 Apr-21 57 May-21 58 Jun-21 59 Jul-21 60 Aug-21 61 Sep-21 62 Oct-21 63 Nov-21 64 Dec-21