Jeff, the "smooth" curve that Excel uses actually goes through each point
so the sum of the offsets is always zero.
The TREND function simply draws the best straight line. Although trend lines
other than straight lines can be drawn using the least squares method, you
must always first guess the form of the equation (linear, log, exponential,
x-order polynomial, etc.).
If the "smooth" line is indeed found using the least squares method then
what is the form of the equation it uses.
Fred