Principles of Microeconomics / Unit 5 MIC 0418 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Market Demand Is the Horizontal Sum
Captions available
The idea
The market demand curve adds the individual demand curves horizontally: at each price, sum the quantities every consumer would buy. The result slopes down because each part does.
In practice
At two dollars, three buyers wanting five, three and eight pounds make sixteen.
Where people slip
Sum quantities at a price, never prices at a quantity. Adding vertically gives a curve that means nothing here.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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