Try It

Click through the buttons in this simulation to think about applications of utility.

First, you’ll imagine that you are desperately searching for food and water on a hot day. Given the heat and your time constraints, you’ll need to decide what to obtain first based on its utility. Then, you can see these combinations on a graph and consider what the utility of each choice would be.

Be sure to choose the option to “learn more about marginal utility per dollar spent” so that you can see how marginal-decision making comes into play when choosing to forage for either apples or berries.