10.9. Moving Average Tool

Use the moving average tool to calculate moving averages of the data set. A moving average provides useful trend information of the data that is lost in a simple average. In addition, moving averages can be used to eliminate random variance. For example, use this tool to create a smoother curve of a stock prize.

To use this tool, first specify the cells containing the values whose moving averages you want to calculate in the ``Input Range'' entry. Then specify the ``Interval'' for the moving average. The interval specifies the number of values to be included in the moving average.

The results are given in a column. Each row represents the moving average for the corresponding row in the input range. The moving average cannot be calculated for the first `k' rows in the input range where `k' is smaller than the given interval.