INSTITUTE OF ACCOUNTANCY ARUSHA
PRINCIPLES OF MICROECONOMICS
TUTORIAL QUESTIONS
TOPIC: PRODUCTION AND COST THEORY
1. What is production function? Explain factors of production and their rewards
2. With the aid of diagrams, explain the relationship between MC, AVC and ATC
Curves. What is the law of variable proportions?
3. How the production in the long-run is differs from the production in the short-
run?
4. What are the difference between isocost and isoquant?
5. Explain the concept of marginal rate of technical substitution
6. What is a production function? How does a long run production function differ
from a short-run production function?
7. If the total cost function of producing a commodity is given as
TC = 4Q +3Q2
Where by TC = total cost, q = output
Find – Marginal Cost
8. Consider the following short run production function:
Q= 40L – 4L2
Find the value of L that maximizes output.
9. Consider the following output table
Labor Output Marginal Average
product product
1 2
2 6
3 16
4 29
5 43
6 55
7 58
8 60
9 59
10 56
a) Calculate marginal product and average product
b) What is the point that the firm maximizes profit?
c) Within what ranges do we see increasing returns, decreasing returns and
negative returns?
10. Marty’s Frozen Yogurt is a small shop that sells cups of frozen yogurt in a
university town. Marty owns three frozen-yogurt machines. His other inputs are
refrigerators, frozen-yogurt mix, cups, sprinkle toppings, and, of course,
workers. He estimates that his daily production function when he varies the
number of workers employed (and at the same time, of course, yogurt mix,
cups, and so on) is as shown in the accompanying table.
Quantity of Quantity of
labor frozen yogurt
1 2
2 6
3 16
4 29
5 43
6 55
7 58
8 60
9 59
10 56
a. Draw the total product curve. Put the quantity of labor on the horizontal axis and
the quantity of frozen yogurt on the vertical axis.
b. What is the marginal product of the first worker? The second worker? The third
worker? Why does marginal product decline as the number of workers increases?
11. Explain the shape of long run average total cost curve ( LRATC Curve)