Final answer:
The opportunity cost of computers in terms of automobiles is the number of computers that must be given up to produce one additional automobile. This embodies the trade-offs and foregone opportunities in economic decisions.
Step-by-step explanation:
The opportunity cost in economics represents what must be forgone to produce a certain good. In the context of the trade-off between producing computers and automobiles, the opportunity cost of computers in terms of automobiles is not expressed by the unit labor required for either product. Rather, it refers to the number of alternative goods that must be sacrificed to acquire more of the other.
In the provided question, the option that best defines opportunity cost is the number of computers that have to be given up to free up resources for producing one more automobile. This essentially means that if resources are presently being used to produce computers, they could be alternatively used to produce automobiles. The number of computers that cannot be produced as a result is the opportunity cost.
When making decisions, we must consider the benefits of one choice against the potential gains from another. For instance, if a country specializes in producing computers but decides to produce an additional automobile, it faces a trade-off as it has to give up the production of a certain number of computers. The opportunity cost is the best alternative given up in the decision-making process, suggesting that different choices have different implied costs depending on the value of the foregone options.