For this discussion, we will be looking at several interactive tutorials or quizzes that might help you and your classmates with any concepts or calculations that you are having difficulty with.

If you are having difficulty with the numerical calculations covered in this module, try this interactive tutorial:

http://www.sambaker.com/econ/cost/cost.html

If you are having difficulty with some of the conceptual issues covered in this module, try the following interactive tutorial:

http://www.pearsoncustom.com/mct-comprehensive/asset.php?isbn=1269879944&id=12353

Note that you don’t need to look at both tutorials, just pick one or the other and share with your classmates whether you found it useful or not.

Then search the web and try to find at least one other tutorial on production costs (marginal costs, variable costs, total costs, etc.) that you find useful for this module. This could be a tutorial, a video lesson, an online practice quiz, etc. Share the link with your classmates and explain what you found useful about it. As a follow-up to your first post, try using one of the tutorials that your classmates found and share your thoughts.

Economics Interactive Tutorial about Cost Concepts

posted May 6, 2018 8:34 AM

Hello Class,

I chose the first link to get a better understanding of production and costs. I felt that it was extremely useful and straightforward. The numerical calculations are very easy to do. I suggest click on the "Type a number (no commas) in the box. Then click this" button before performing the calculations. It gives you a hint on which numbers to look at. While it's been awhile since I've seen this concepts, I'm quite familiar with them as I was going for my Bachelor's in Accounting. These concepts were very prevalent in my Cost Accounting course.

The other link is a tutorial that reinforces the concepts of fixed costs, variable costs, and marginal costs. What I found useful for each concept was how Riley (n.d.) bolded key words or phrases to emphasize their importance. As someone who likes to work with numbers, I appreciated the use of formulas, charts, and graphs to depict how these concepts work (for lack of a better word).

References

Baker, S. (n.d.). Economic Interactive Tutorial: Cost Concepts. Sam Baker. Retrieved from http://www.sambaker.com/econ/cost/cost.html

Riley, G. (n.d.). Explaining Fixed and Variable Costs of Production. Tutor 2u. Retrieved from https://www.tutor2u.net/economics/reference/short-run-costs-of-production

Quantitative Concepts

posted May 8, 2018 11:37 AM

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Morning class,

I found the Economics Interactive Tutorial to be useful in understanding how marginal, variable and total costs relate to each other. One thing that I found while doing the Case assignment, and can easily be overlooked, is to be aware if the problem is asking you to calculate marginal costs per increment or by unit. For example, if the marginal cost is $100 to produce 10 more units of output, then the marginal cost is $10 (ATC/Quantity). In the example, they use a very simple scenario, where each unit of output is one, so it can be a little confusing when calculating the numbers in the case assignment.

I've been using ACDC Econ videos (Clifford, 2014) on YouTube to help understand economic concepts. It's useful because it gives you a quick rundown of the course material so that you have a general idea of what the reading is about. This is especially helpful when learning how quantitative formulas work with each other. For me, it's difficult to learn math without someone showing it to me, and these instructional videos bridge the gap that text has a hard time conveying.

Christian

Reference:

Clifford (2014) Cost Curves – Microeconomics 3.3. ACDC Leadership. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYKJdooEnwU

Baker, S. (2000). Economics Interactive Tutorial. Retrieved from: http://www.sambaker.com/econ/cost/cost.html