{"id":199258,"date":"2025-03-10T21:00:04","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T21:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=199258"},"modified":"2025-03-10T21:00:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T21:00:10","slug":"sales-of-hair-dryers-at-the-walgreens-stores-in-youngstown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/10\/sales-of-hair-dryers-at-the-walgreens-stores-in-youngstown\/","title":{"rendered":"Sales of hair dryers at the Walgreens stores in Youngstown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sales of hair dryers at the Walgreens stores in Youngstown, Ohio, over the past 4 months have been 100, 110, 120, and 130 units (with 130 being the most recent sales).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Develop a moving-average forecast for next month, using these three techniques:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a) 3-month moving average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

b) 4-month moving average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

c) Weighted 4-month moving average with the most recent month weighted 4, the preceding month 3, then 2, and the oldest month weighted 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

d) If next month\u2019s sales turn out to be 140 units, forecast the following month\u2019s sales (months) using a 4-month moving average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The correct answer and explanation is :<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the moving average forecasts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a) 3-month Moving Average Forecast<\/strong>: ( \\frac{110 + 120 + 130}{3} = 120.0 )<\/p>\n\n\n\n

b) 4-month Moving Average Forecast<\/strong>: ( \\frac{100 + 110 + 120 + 130}{4} = 115.0 )<\/p>\n\n\n\n

c) Weighted 4-month Moving Average Forecast<\/strong>:
Using weights (1, 2, 3, 4) for the months from oldest to newest:
[
\\frac{(100 \\times 1) + (110 \\times 2) + (120 \\times 3) + (130 \\times 4)}{1+2+3+4}
]
[
= \\frac{100 + 220 + 360 + 520}{10} = \\frac{1200}{10} = 120.0
]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

d) Forecast for the Following Month (if next month\u2019s sales are 140)<\/strong>:
Updating the 4-month data: ([110, 120, 130, 140])
[
\\frac{110 + 120 + 130 + 140}{4} = 125.0
]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explanation:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The moving average methods help smooth out short-term fluctuations in sales data to make future predictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • The 3-month moving average<\/strong> is based on the most recent three months, giving an updated forecast of 120 units<\/strong>. It is useful for short-term trends.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The 4-month moving average<\/strong> considers a longer period and provides a slightly lower estimate of 115 units<\/strong>, balancing past fluctuations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The weighted 4-month moving average<\/strong> assigns more importance to recent data, resulting in a forecast of 120 units<\/strong>, which aligns closely with the 3-month moving average.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • If next month’s sales are 140 units<\/strong>, the updated 4-month moving average forecast for the following month<\/strong> increases to 125 units<\/strong>, reflecting the upward trend.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    By applying different forecasting techniques, businesses can make more informed decisions on inventory management, supply chain planning, and sales strategies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Sales of hair dryers at the Walgreens stores in Youngstown, Ohio, over the past 4 months have been 100, 110, 120, and 130 units (with 130 being the most recent sales). Develop a moving-average forecast for next month, using these three techniques: a) 3-month moving average. b) 4-month moving average. c) Weighted 4-month moving average […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-199258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199258\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}