The purpose of using the moving average is to take away the short-term seasonal and random variation,leaving behind a combined trend and cyclical movement.

The statement is true. The moving average is a commonly used technique in time series analysis to smooth out the fluctuations in data and highlight the underlying trend and cyclical component, which can be useful for forecasting and decision-making. By calculating the average of a certain number of past observations, the moving average reduces the impact of short-term noise and variation, revealing the longer-term pattern in the data.