net.sourceforge.openforecast
Class Forecaster

java.lang.Object
  net.sourceforge.openforecast.Forecaster

public class Forecaster

extends java.lang.Object

The Forecaster class is a factory class that obtains the best ForecastingModel for the given data set. The best forecasting model is defined as the one that gives the lowest sum of absolute errors (SAE) when reapplying the model to the historical or observed data.

Author:

Steven R. Gould

Method Summary

static ForecastingModel

getBestForecast(DataSet dataSet) Obtains the best forecasting model for the given DataSet.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Method Detail

getBestForecast

public static ForecastingModel getBestForecast(DataSet dataSet)

Obtains the best forecasting model for the given DataSet. There is some intelligence built into this method to help it determine which forecasting model is best suited to the data. In particular, it will try applying various forecasting models, using different combinations of independent variables and select the one with the least Sum of Absolute Errors (SAE); i.e. the most accurate one based on historical data.

Parameters:

dataSet - a set of observations on which the given model should be based.

Returns:

the best ForecastingModel for the given data set.