Time Plotting with R

 With R, we can construct time plots that give us a visual glimpse at data that changes over time. In this particular example, we can see how a student's credit card bills differ in value from month to month for both 2012 and 2013:


However, this graph doesn't tell us a whole lot aside from showing the variation between months. With the Exponential Smoothing Model, however, we can take a closer look at each year's variations separately, and get both an average measure of change through the year as well as the mean of all the bill payments per month.



Boy, according to these average rates of change, looks like this student's got quite the spending record, huh? Jokes aside, both the ESM and time plotting in general are both very useful tools for visualizing data over a span of time, and can be applied in potentially supporting plans for future financial decisions by estimating a proper budget.


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