This application uses a forecasting methodology known as Exponential
smoothing, in which the forecast for a period is based upon combining
a percentage of the forecast for the previous period with the actual
figures for that period. This percentage, called the smoothing
constant, can take any value between 0 and 1, depending upon the
weighting you wish to give the two factors. A value of 1 gives full
weight to the actual data for the previous period, where as 0 gives
full weight to the previous forecast. The constant is specified
during the applications initialization phase.