Production Analysis in the Short-run:

In the production process, the output or product may be described in three ways in economics: total product (TP), average product (AP) or marginal product (MP).

(a) Total Product (TP)

Total product is the maximum output that a firm can produce over a given period of time when it employs a given set of inputs. Total product is the sum of marginal products.

(b) Average Product (AP)

Average product is the output per unit of the variable factor employed. In other words, it is the productivity of the variable factor. It is measured by dividing total product (TP) by amount of variable factor employed i.e