Talk:Demand curve/Archives/2020

Isn't it backward / shouldn't we mention this?
We always chart f(x) with the x on the horizontal axis. So for example how many people are alive who are currently, 1,2,3...100.

It only makes sense to chart this with the ages as the x axis and the number of people alive at that age as the y axis. The other direction makes 0 sense. Don't you agree?

Likewise isn't it obvious that the quantity demanded is a function of the price? Logically shouldn't the price be along the x axis (like the ages) and the number demanded at that price on the y axis (like the number of people alive at each age)?

Of course I am not suggesting changing standard economic practice. But then this article can clearly explain that it's backward compared to graphing any other algabraic function...


 * Demand curves were invented by Fleeming Jenkin who drew them properly, with the independent variable along the x axis. See Recess Studies, p152. Marshall flipped the axes and has been followed ever since. Wikipedia should certainly warn the reader, but in my view it should go futher and revert to Jenkin’s practice. An article on ‘demand’ does not exist chiefly for trained economists but for laymen who, even when forewarned, find it hard to interpret graphs whose axes are interchanged. (Presumably economists develop the knack; it’s a bit like reading upside down.) Colin.champion (talk) 12:57, 14 July 2020 (UTC)