Answer Question 19 Here are the instructions that my instruc

Answer Question #19. Here are the instructions that my instructor gave us to make things easier:

\"The text explanation goes into much more detail than is actually needed for the homework assignment. The following is a more detailed, and hopefully easier to understand explanation:

a) Use Excel to create a scatter plot, use the ?t? values as the x-values, and Y_t as the y-values.

b) Use the ?SLOPE? and ?INTERCEPT? functions in Excel to determine the parameters for the equation of the line that provides the forecast that minimizes the mean square error (MSE). (Reference section 15.4). The equation will be in the form: Y = b₀ + b₁t.

c) Use either the ?TREND? or ?FORECAST? functions in Excel to predict the value Y_t when t=8.\"

The following data show the time series of the most recent quarterly capital expenditures (in billions of dollars) for the 1000 largest manufacturing firms: 24, 25,23, 24, 22, 26,28, 31, 29, 32, 37, and 42. a. Develop a linear trend equation for the time series. b. Graph the time series and the linear trend equation. c. What appears to be happening to capital expenditures? What is the forecast one year, or four quarters, into the future?

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