Final answer:
Marginal product refers to the additional output generated by an additional unit of input, while total product is the total quantity produced. As more units of input are added, total product increases, but due to the Law of Diminishing Marginal Product, the marginal product may initially rise and then start to decrease.
Step-by-step explanation:
To explain the terms "marginal product" and "total product" and analyze and explain the relationship between the two, we start by defining the marginal product (MP). MP is the additional output generated by employing one more unit of a variable input, such as labor. It's calculated by dividing the change in total product (ATP) by the change in the amount of labor (ΔL), essentially representing MP = ATP/ΔL. For instance, if 0 workers produce 0 units and the first worker hired produces 4 units, then the marginal product of the first worker is 4 units.
Total product (TP), on the other hand, is the total output produced by all employed inputs. As you hire more workers, the TP increases. Initially, MP may rise if additional workers lead to a more efficient use of capital. However, this trend can reverse due to the Law of Diminishing Marginal Product, which states that there comes a point when adding an additional factor of production results in a smaller increase in output.
Graphically, these concepts can be represented with curves where the TP curve shows total output as workers increase, and the MP curve shows the output added by each additional worker. In the beginning, the MP curve might rise, but it eventually declines, reflecting diminishing returns. This is a critical aspect of short-run production and is key to understanding how to optimize resource allocation in production processes.