FORECAST.LINEAR & TREND
Project a trend without a chart.
Why planners need it
A quick, defensible baseline: fit a straight line to history and extend it. The honest starting point before seasonality and events.
Syntax
=FORECAST.LINEAR(new_x, known_ys, known_xs)
Worked example
Six weeks of volume; project week 7:
=FORECAST.LINEAR(7, B2:B7, A2:A7) → the trend value for next week. TREND() returns several future points at once.
Watch out: It assumes a linear trend — no seasonality or step changes. Use it as a baseline, then layer day-of-week and event adjustments on top.