Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Time Series and Forecasting
In the time series, there are challenges in understanding and applying the concept in solving mathematical problems and in the practical sense. One of the greatest challenges that I face is using the excel calculation formulae to solve time series problems. I am particularly challenged in calculating the time series problems using the excel spreadsheet methods to develop the time series analysis. I find this challenging because of the complexity of the excel spreadsheet formulae. Another challenge I face is interpreting the results of the time series analysis and applying it in the real life. I find it challenging because of the limitations of the practicality of some of the problems.
To help me with these challenges, I found the Microsoft excel Tutorial a significant guide towards understanding the use of excel formulae. After studying for a while, I found the tutorials viable and a very helpful resource for learning prowess in spreadsheet calculations. At the same time, I find the book by Henrik Madsen, as a good resource for learning more about the application of time series results (Madsen, 2007). Through the book, I will be able to understand the use of the results of a time series problem and apply them in the practical world.
In the real world, forecasting is used to make decisions about sales and business performance in commerce. I worked at a restaurant for a short while as an intern in the management. I could see the application of time series in predicting sales for the restaurant by using the number of tables and the number of seats as the variables towards the sales. I participated in the estimation of sales on an active day, where we used to estimate the sales figure by considering the tables, seats and the time each customer spent at the restaurant.
Reference
Madsen, H. (2007). Time Series Analysis. Boca Raton: CRC Press