Business Analysis with Microsoft® Excel, Second Edition

Using Regression Analysis in Decision Making

Regression analysis is a powerful tool that can help you make sense of much larger amounts of data than was used in the case study on confidence intervals in the prior section. It is a technique that's fundamental for exploring and understanding relationships among variables. When you're faced with uncertain situations, you can use it to guide decisions about everything from operations to finance and from sales commissions to marketing.

Excel provides good support for regression analysis. There are 15 worksheet functions that bear directly on regression analysis, and other capabilities such as the Regression add-in; menu items such as Edit, Fill, Series, and Linear; and trendlines on charts that make ...