English language help

Okay, I'm doing a coursework about forecasting and I've been given like 100+ amount of months for my data/time series.

The first question says "Withhold the last 12 observations of the time series .. bla bla bla"

My question is, what does "withhold the last 12 observations of the time series" mean?

I'm not sure whether it means I leave out the 12 observations or I only take the 12 observations?

I'm guessing it means "Restrain/leave out" in that context which means I only consider the data EXCLUDING the last 12.

That's what I take it to mean, leave out/omit the last 12 results in the 100 months time series.

Cheers, LFCexiled.

I wasn't sure what "withhold" meant in this context but I guess it's actually pretty obvious since taking the last 12 results only won't make any sense.

Cheers, LFCexiled.

Not a bother.

Cheers, LFCexiled.

I wasn't sure what "withhold" meant in this context but I guess it's actually pretty obvious since taking the last 12 results only won't make any sense.

Personally I would take it to mean hold back, do not disclose the data mentioned.

Yeah, thanks for your help, guys.

Considering they want me to forecast 12 months and said to withhold the actual 12, i guess it make sense that it means to not include the original 12 data so I can make a comparison between the 12 I forecasted and the 12 I've left out.

Considering they want me to forecast 12 months and said to withhold the actual 12, i guess it make sense that it means to not include the original 12 data so I can make a comparison between the 12 I forecasted and the 12 I've left out.

Sounds like that's what they want.