Time series analysis is used to understand how the value of some variable changes over time.

In this article, we share five examples of how time series analysis is commonly used in real life situations.

Example 1: Retail Sales

Retail stores often use time series analysis to analyze how their total sales is trending over time.

Time series analysis is particularly useful for analyzing monthly, seasonal, and yearly trends in sales.

This allows retail stores to be able to more accurately predict what their sales will be during an upcoming period and be able to more accurately predict how much inventory and staff they’ll need during different periods of the year.

Example 2: Stock Prices

Time series analysis is also used frequently by stock traders so they can gain a better understanding of the patterns in various stock prices.

Time series plots in particular are helpful because they allow stock analysts and traders to understand the trend and direction of a certain stock price.

Example 3: Weather

Time series analysis is also used frequently by weatherman to predict what the temperatures will be during different months and seasons throughout the year.

Example 4: Heart Rate

Time series analysis is also used in the medical field to monitor the heart rate of patients who may be on certain medications to make sure that heart rate doesn’t fluctuate too wildly during any given time of the day.

Example 5: Subscribers

Time series analysis is often used by online publications to analyze trends in the total number of subscribers from one year to the next.

Time series plots can be particularly useful for identifying whether or not growth in the number of subscribers is increasing, decreasing, or hitting a plateau.

The following tutorials explain how other statistical methods are used in real life situations.