Plotting the Numbers

Supply Schedule	Supply Curve

The supply curve is finalized by connecting these 10 points with a continuous line. The 10 prices corresponding to these 10 points, are but 10 of an infinite number of prices, each with a corresponding quantity. A continuous line includes these other possibilities. To reveal this line, click the [Draw] button. The end result is the supply curve.

What It All Means

• First, as the price increases from a low of $5 to a high of $50, the quantity supplied of Yellow Tarantulas increases from 0 to 900. Higher prices are related to larger quantities. This relation, this direct relation between supply price and quantity supplied, IS the basic law of supply.


• Second, the supply curve represents maximum quantities and minimum prices. That is, if the price is $10, then the maximum quantity supplied is 100 Yellow Tarantulas. It is not 150, nor even 101, but only 100. Alternatively, if sellers offer 100 Yellow Tarantulas for sale, then the minimum supply price they are willing and able to accept is $10, not $5, not even $9.99, but $10.


• Third, this whole curve, every price-quantity combination on the curve, is supply. Supply is the entire range of prices and quantities, all pairs. Supply is the entire curve. In contrast, quantity supplied is any specific number of Yellow Tarantulas sellers are willing and able to sell at a specific supply price. Selecting a different price generates a different quantity supplied. Quantity supplied is a point on the curve.


• Fourth, this supply curve represents hypothetical possibilities. It suggests a "What if" relation between supply price and quantity supplied. It indicates quantity supplied given a supply price, or supply price given the quantity supplied. If, for example, the supply price is $10, then sellers are willing and able to sell 100 Yellow Tarantulas. This does not mean that sellers will sell, are selling, or ever will sell 100 Yellow Tarantulas. It only indicates what they would sell at a $10 price.