Thread: Forecasting using non linear data

Hi - I realise similar questions have been asked previously - but the answers were confusing.

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to use Excel to forecast values if your data does not conform to a linear trend? I have data that is pretty much everything except linear - e.g. log, exp, poly. Advice for any of these trends would be much appreciated

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to use Excel to forecast values if your data does not conform to a linear trend?

Short answer -- Yes, though you might expect that answer here where we have a Pro-Excel bias. I know many hard core statistics people would prefer that we didn't use Excel for these kinds of statistical analyses (I have a co worker who has, "Friends don't let friends use Excel for statistics" taped to his door).

How much of your question is specific to Excel (in other words, I already know how to regress data and otherwise perform this analysis, but I don't know Excel well enough to put the analysis into Excel) and how much of your question is beyond Excel (I don't know what mathematical model to choose, for example)?