Excel 2007 : Forecasting using non linear data

[gemmamck86]

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

[shg]

Welcome to the forum.

A series growing or decreasing by the same factor each period is a power series.

[MrShorty]

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)?