Which of the following statements are correct?(A) If the marginal uti…

Which of the following statements are correct?

(A) If the marginal utilities of the first 3 units are 10, 8 and 6, the total utility of 3 units is 24.
(B) If the total utility of 4 units is 30 and of 5 units is 28, the marginal utility of the 5th unit is 2.
(C) The marginal utility of the first unit equals the total utility of the first unit.
(D) Total utility equals the marginal utility of the last unit multiplied by the number of units.
(E) The total utility of 3 units is MU₁ + MU₂ + MU₃.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 1

The correct answer is Option (1) → (A), (C) and (E) only

Total utility (TU) of n units is the sum of the marginal utilities (MU) of those units.

(A) If the marginal utilities of the first 3 units are 10, 8 and 6, the total utility of 3 units is 24. — Correct. 10 + 8 + 6 = 24.

(B) If the total utility of 4 units is 30 and of 5 units is 28, the marginal utility of the 5th unit is 2. — Incorrect. MU₅ = TU₅ − TU₄ = 28 − 30 = −2; TU has fallen.

(C) The marginal utility of the first unit equals the total utility of the first unit. — Correct. Before the first unit TU is zero, so the first unit adds all of TU₁.

(D) Total utility equals the marginal utility of the last unit multiplied by the number of units. — Incorrect. TU is the sum of all the MUs, and the MUs differ from unit to unit.

(E) The total utility of 3 units is MU1 + MU2 + MU3. — Correct. TU₃ adds the MU of each of the 3 units.

NCERT (2026-27): “Measures of Utility … Marginal Utility: Marginal utility (MU) is the change in total utility due to consumption of one additional unit of a commodity. … In general, MU_n = TU_n – TU_n-1, where subscript n refers to the nth unit of the commodity Total utility and marginal utility can also be related in the following way. TU_n = MU₁ + MU₂ + … + MU_n-1 + MU_n This simply means that TU derived from consuming n units of bananas is the sum total of marginal utility of first banana (MU₁), marginal utility of second banana (MU₂), and so on, till the marginal utility of the nth unit. …”