Final answer:
Marginal utility is calculated by finding the difference in total utility for each additional unit consumed and dividing this change by the quantity change, which is typically 1 for each incremental unit. This calculation is done by following the data from the provided table and subtracting the total utility of the previous unit from the current total utility for each unit of plums consumed.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student's question is about calculating marginal utility, which is an important concept in microeconomics. Marginal utility is the additional satisfaction or utility that a consumer gains from consuming one more unit of a good or service. The fundamental formula to calculate it is the change in total utility divided by the change in quantity consumed. Based on the provided data for units of plums and their respective total utilities, we will calculate the marginal utility for each additional unit consumed.
To calculate the marginal utility (MU), we observe the difference in total utility as we consume one additional unit of plums. For example, going from 1 to 2 units of plums, the total utility increases from 22 to 34 utils, which gives us a marginal utility of 12 utils (34 - 22). Continuing this process for each additional unit consumed, we create a new column representing the marginal utility for each unit.
- Calculate the difference in total utility for each successive unit.
- Divide the change in total utility by the change in quantity (which is 1 in this example).
- Repeat these steps for each unit to find all marginal utility values.