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.

Step-by-step solution

Find the work done by two painters

According to the problem, two painters can paint 200 square feet of wall in an hour. We don't need to do anything else with this information for now, and we'll use it to find the marginal product of the third painter later on.

Find the work done by three painters

The problem also states that three painters can paint 275 square feet of wall in an hour. Like before, just take note of this information and we'll use it later when calculating the marginal product.

Calculate the marginal product of the third painter

The marginal product of the third painter can be found by subtracting the work done by two painters from the work done by three painters. Marginal Product = Work done by 3 painters - Work done by 2 painters Using the values given in the problem: Marginal Product = 275 square feet - 200 square feet Marginal Product = 75 square feet So, the marginal product of the third painter is 75 square feet, meaning that the third painter adds an additional 75 square feet of painted wall when compared to the work of only two painters.