Assume there are 100 suppliers of widgets in the widget market. Half of these suppliers supply 35 widgets to the market, a quarter of these suppliers supply 40 widgets to the market, and a quarter of these suppliers supply 50 widgets to the market. What is the market supply for widgets

The market supply for widgets is 4,000 widgets

Explanation:

In this question, we are asked to calculate the market supply for widgets given the respective fraction of suppliers supplying a particular number of widgets.

In the question, we can identify the following facts;

a) The total number of suppliers we have is 100

b) Half of this number supplies 35 widgets to the market. Half of the total means total divided by 2. This means 100/2 = 50

If 50 suppliers supply 35 widgets each, the total number of widgets supplied by this section of people out of the total would be 35 * 50 = 1,750 widgets

(c) A quarter of these suppliers supply 40 widgets to the market. What this means is that 1/4 of the total number of suppliers supply 49 widgets each. 1/4 of the total 100 is 25. The total number of widgets supplied by these people is 25 * 40 = 1,000 widgets

d) Another quarter supplies 50 widgets to the market. What this means is that out of the 100, another 1/4 supplies 50 widgets each. What this means is that 1/4 of 100 supplies 50 widgets each = 25 suppliers

The total number of widgets supplying this section is 25 * 50 = 1,250 widgets

Now, we proceed to calculate the total number of widgets supplied to the market. That will be equal to; 1750 widgets + 1000 widgets + 1250 widgets = 4,000 widgets

Given:

Number of widget suppliers, Ns = 100

0.5 * Ns supply 35 widgets each

= 0.5 * 100

= 50 * 35

= 1750 widgets

0.25 * Ns supply 40 widgets each

= 0.25 * 100

= 25 * 40

= 1000 widgets

0.25 * Ns supply 50 widgets each

= 0.25 * 100

= 25 * 50

= 1250 widgets

Total widgets supplied to the market = 1750 + 1250 + 1000

= 4000 widgets.

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