The weighted mean time-series forecast gives more weight to:

• A. More recent observations
• B. Older observations
• C. Observations chosen at random
• D. All observations equally

Answer: (A)

In time-series forecasting, recent data are given more weight because the most current observations carry the most information about what happens next. When the underlying process changes over time, recent values reflect those new conditions better than older ones, so weighting them more heavily makes the forecast more responsive to recent trends or shifts. Older observations may no longer be relevant, and giving them the same influence as fresh data can slow down adaptation to new patterns. Randomly chosen observations would introduce unnecessary noise, and giving all observations equal weight ignores changes over time, making forecasts slower to adjust.