Chapter 58. Incorporating qualitative factors into multiple regression

Questions answered in this chapter:

  • How can I predict quarterly US auto sales?

  • How can I predict US presidential elections?

  • Is there an Excel function I can use to make forecasts easily from a multiple regression equation?

In the first example of multiple regression in Chapter 57 the monthly cost of plant operations was forecasted by using the number of units of each product manufactured at the plant. Because you can quantify exactly the amount of a product produced at a plant, you can refer to the units produced of Product A, Product B, and Product C as quantitative independent variables. In many situations, however, independent variables can’t be easily quantified. In this chapter, ...

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