ECO 3160 · Fall 2026 · Section 001 · Online

Business & Economic Forecasting

Real data, real forecasts, real R. By December you will be able to take a time series you have never seen and produce a defensible forecast.

This page is your course. Each week: read the chapter (the textbook is free online), work the slides, play with the interactive demo, then run the R code yourself. Quizzes and exams live on Canvas — everything else is right here. Quizzes due Sundays 11:59pm, untimed; exams are timed and due the day you open them.

Syllabus (coming soon) · Text: Hyndman & Athanasopoulos, Forecasting: Principles and Practice (free) · R for Data Science (free) · Download R

Weekly Path

Week 1 · Aug 17–21Getting Started (FPP Ch. 1)
Slides: Introduction to Forecasting Install R, get the free textbook
Week 2 · Aug 24–28Time Series Graphics & Patterns (Ch. 2)
Slides: Time Series Patterns Demo: ACF & PACF Explorer Quiz 1 (Ch. 1–2) — required for participation
Week 3 · Aug 31–Sep 4Decomposition (Ch. 3)
Week 4 · Sep 7–11Decomposition in R — practice week
Catch up, work the R examples from Ch. 3
Week 5 · Sep 14–18Time Series Features (Ch. 4)
Slides: Features Quiz 3
Week 6 · Sep 21–25Review + catch-up
Exam 1 opens next week — use this week to consolidate Ch. 1–4
Week 7 · Sep 28–Oct 2Exam 1 (Ch. 1–4)
Timed, on Canvas, due the day you open it
Week 8 · Oct 5–9Exam 1 resubmissions
Resubmissions due Sun Oct 18
Week 9 · Oct 12–16Time Series Regression (Ch. 7)
Week 10 · Oct 19–23The Forecaster’s Toolbox (Ch. 5)
Week 11 · Oct 26–30Exponential Smoothing (Ch. 8)
Week 12 · Nov 2–6Exam 2 (Ch. 5, 7, 8)
Timed, on Canvas · resubmissions due the following Sunday
Week 13 · Nov 9–13ARIMA Models (Ch. 9)
Week 14 · Nov 16–20Dynamic Regression (Ch. 10)
Slides: Dynamic Regression (new deck coming) Quiz 8
Week 15 · Nov 23–27Fall Break
Week 16 · Nov 30–Dec 4Review Week (Ch. 11–12 highlights)
Advanced-topics deck coming
Finals · Dec 7–13Exam 3
Due Sun Dec 13, 11:59pm