+1 862 207 3288 ‘M’ is a number called extent( or period) of a moving average. Moving average of extent m is a series of successive averages of M terms at a time, starting with first second and so on. Thus, the first average is the mean of first n terms, the second moving average is the mean of m terms from second to (m+1)th term and so on.
If m is odd = 2k +1 , moving average is placed against the mid value of the time interval it covers i.e. against t=k+1 and if m is even =2k , it is placed between the two middle values of the time interval it covers which is between t= k and t= k+1. the graph obtained on floating the moving average values against the corresponding time values gives trend curve.
In this method, the Paramount importance lies in determining the extent of the moving average which shall completely eliminate the fluctuations oscillatory movements affecting the series.
