Question

If two painters can paint$200$square feet of wall in an hour, and three painters can paint $275$square feet, what is the marginal product of the third painter?

Short answer

The marginal product of the third painter is $75$square feet of wall in an hour.

Step-by-step solution

Step 1. Given information

Two painters can paint $200$square feet of wall in an hour, and three painters can paint $275$square feet.

Step 2. Marginal Product

Marginal product is the amount of product that can be obtained by employing one additional unit of an input of production (say, labor).

Marginal product of an additional unit of labor can be obtained by dividing the $75$change in the total product by change in the quantity of labor.

Step 3. The marginal product of the third painter

$\frac{(275-200)squarefeet}{(3-2)}=75square$
feet.

The marginal product of the third painter is square feet of wall in an hour.