# Solved – Determine best ARIMA model with AICc and RMSE

aicarimaforecastingrmstime series

I have done a training set to fit different ARIMA models and then a test set to assess their performance (with R). From what I understood, I can use the AICc to determine the best model by choosing the one with the smallest AICc, but the differencing order of the models has to be the same to be able to compare them. However I can also use the RMSE to choose the best model and different differencing orders don't matter. However, in all my models d=1.

If small values of AICc tend to give better models and if the smaller the RMSE is the better the model is, then models with the smallest AICc should have the smallest RMSE? In my case, models with smaller AICc have greater values of RMSE than models with greater AICc. How should I decide which is the best model then?

Here I show the different ARIMA models with the respective AICc, p-value of the residuals of the Ljung-Box test, the RMSE and the MAPE.

                         AICc        p-value        RMSE         MAPE
ARIMA (2,1,2)    ~    515.28    ~   0.07054   ~   1.1537   ~   13.812
ARIMA (2,1,1)    ~    517.91    ~   0.1145    ~   1.0441   ~   13.925
ARIMA (1,1,2)    ~    517.9     ~   0.1169    ~   1.0667   ~   14.217
ARIMA (1,1,1)    ~    516.22    ~   0.1732    ~   1.1122   ~   14.848
ARIMA (2,1,0)    ~    537.3     ~   0.0074    ~   0.9066   ~   12.083
ARIMA (0,1,2)    ~    519.59    ~   0.1004    ~   0.9431   ~   12.676
ARIMA (0,1,1)    ~    537.5     ~   0.0007    ~   0.9030   ~   12.006
ARIMA (1,1,0)    ~    544.32    ~   0.0006    ~   0.8961   ~   11.735
ARIMA (0,1,0)    ~    549.08    ~   0.0006    ~   0.8963   ~   11.747
ARIMA (3,1,2)    ~    521.84    ~   0.0368    ~   1.0181   ~   13.527
ARIMA (2,1,3)    ~    521.6     ~   0.0432    ~   1.0275   ~   13.632
ARIMA (3,1,3)    ~    511.6     ~   0.1617    ~   1.0945   ~   14.699
ARIMA (3,1,1)    ~    519.91    ~   0.0800    ~   1.1116   ~   14.815
ARIMA (1,1,3)    ~    519.78    ~   0.05345   ~   0.9913   ~   13.191


I have to say that auto.arima() with stepwise=FALSE, approximation=FALSE and seasonal=FALSE has chosen ARIMA(2,1,2) but it produces NaNs.

Should I first start by rejecting those models which p-value < 0.05? And then how should I decide the best model? Any suggestions of which model would you choose with these given values?