Econ. Help: Opportunity Cost?

Question

Compute the opportunity cost of commodity X at A,B,C,D, and E

_x__ __y__

a 0 30

b 2 27

c 4 21

d 6 12

e 8 0

Sorry the table didnt come out right.. but the 2nd column is for (y)

Answer 1

Simplified method will look something like this:

......... X ...... Y ...... O/C(X)

A ...... 0 ...... 30 ...... 1.5  ...... =(30-27)/2

B ...... 2 ...... 27 ...... 3 ......... =(27-21)/2

C ...... 4 ...... 21 ...... 4.5 ......  =(21-12)/2

D ...... 6 ...... 12 ...... 6 .........  =(12-0)/2

E ...... 8 ....... 0 ....... ∞

O/C(X) - opportunity cost of commodity X (in order to get one extra unit of X we need to sacrifice Ω units of Y).

But in reality it is just approximization, for point A opportunity cost of first unit of X will be not 1.5 units of Y but 1 and for second unit of X it may be 2 units of Y thus in average it gives (1+2)/2=3/2=1.5. So all values for first unit in range will be less than shown and second unit will be more than shown.