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Moving AverageStat > Time Series > Moving Average
Moving Average smoothes your data by averaging consecutive observations in a series and provides short-term forecasts. This procedure can be a likely choice when your data do not have a trend or seasonal component. There are ways, however, to use moving averages when your data possess trend and/or seasonality.
Variable: Enter the column containing the time series.
MA Length: Enter a positive integer to indicate desired length for the moving average. With non-seasonal time series, it is common to use short moving averages to smooth the series, although the length you select may depend on the amount of noise in the series. A longer moving average filters out more noise, but is also less sensitive to changes in the series. With seasonal series, it is common to use a moving average of length equal to the length of an annual cycle.
Center the moving averages: If you check this option, Minitab places the moving average values at the period which is in the center of the range rather than at the end of the range. This is called centering the moving average, and is done to position the moving average values at their central positions in time. Click here for more information on centering.
Generate forecasts: Check to generate forecasts. Forecasts appear in green on the time series plot with 95% prediction interval bands.
Number of forecasts: Enter an integer to indicate how many forecasts that you want.
Starting from origin: Enter a positive integer to specify a starting point for the forecasts. For example, if you specify 4 forecasts and 48 for the origin, Minitab computes forecasts for periods 49, 50, 51, and 52, based on the moving average at period 48. If you leave this space blank, Minitab generates forecasts from the end of the data.