A method and system is provided to perform a process for forecasting the characteristics of a target item based on historical characteristic data. The process includes determining one or more equations that when solved present a representation of forecasted characteristics of the target item, wherein each of the one or more equations includes one or more variables. Further, the process involves determining a data value for each of the one or more variables that best represents the characteristics of the target item and solving the one or more equations using the determined data values to forecast the characteristics of the target item.