How to forecast non-numerics?

[seahorses09]

Hi there,

Here is a sample of what I'm trying to forecast...

Month Visitors to Store
Jan 50,000
Feb 60,000
Mar 80,000
Apr ?
May ?

The way I understand the FORECAST function in Excel to work is that it
requires numeric values for both the X and Y values. In this case;
however, I believe my X value to be the month, so when I use the
formula "=FORECAST(x,known_y's,known_x's)" I receive an error message.

Am I going about this the wrong way? Is there another function I need
to use?

Many thanks for any help you can offer!!

 

[Dave Peterson]

I'd change that first column to a real date--the first of each month???--and
include the year.

 

[tim m]

I tried to use the GROWTH function instead. I inserted a column and used a
number to reference each month (1 for Jan, 2 for Feb etc...) Perhaps try
that, it seemed to give a logical estimate for the next two months.

 

[Bernard Liengme]

Expanding on Dave's answer: if you still want to see Jan, Feb ... in the
column then
1) replace them with 1-Jan-2007, 1-Feb-2007 (or dates in your customary
format)
2) format the cells with Custom format: mmm
best wishes

 

[Lori]

A quick method for one-off forecasts is to select the values and then
pull down with the fill handle in the bottom right-corner of the
selection.

If you select the months column too this will also extend the months
list. Drag down with the right-button to choose options for how to
fill the list.