ABSTRACT
In some cases, the amount of pleasure an individual gains from recreation is directly related to the amount of time he or she is engaged in the recreational activity. If for each hour the pleasure increased by a fixed amount, the relationship would be linear. The fixed amount of pleasure might increase in direct proportion to the time involved or be a function of the time. This simple relationship could be described mathematically in an equation or represented in graphical fashion. In such cases it would be easy to forecast how much pleasure could be gained if you knew how much time was involved. The phenomena we seek to study are rarely so simply related. Consider two cases: The first hour of recreational activity gives a fixed amount of pleasure, the
second rather less and the third still less. This experience follows the law of diminishing returns. The extra pleasure can be described as marginal, and still adding to the total utility (see p. 122). If we know how the pleasure varies, we can still find a curve that describes the phenomenon.
