FORECAST.LINEAR Function
The FORECAST.LINEAR function is one of the statistical functions. It is used to calculate, or predict, a future value by using existing values; the predicted value is a y-value for a given x-value. The known values are existing x-values and y-values, and the new value is predicted by using linear regression.
The FORECAST.LINEAR function syntax is:
FORECAST.LINEAR(x, known_y's, known_x's)
where
x is an x-value for which you want to predict a new y-value, a numeric value entered manually or included into the cell you make reference to.
known_y's is an array of known y-values.
known_x's is an array of known x-values.
To apply the FORECAST.LINEAR function,
- select the cell where you wish to display the result,
- click the Insert function
icon situated at the top toolbar,
or right-click within a selected cell and select the Insert Function option from the menu,
or click theicon situated at the formula bar,
- select the Statistical function group from the list,
- click the FORECAST.LINEAR function,
- enter the required arguments separating them by commas,
- press the Enter button.
The result will be displayed in the selected cell.