This document discusses index numbers and how they are used to measure inflation or deflation. It provides the formula for a simple price index and examples of common indices including the Retail Price Index. Weighted aggregate indices weight items by importance and can use either base year quantities (Laspeyres index) or current year quantities (Paasche index). Deflating a time series allows adjustment for inflation by dividing current values by an index to express them in base year prices. Graphs and comparisons of indices are used to examine changes over time.