<p>There is a nice explanation, just take a look at the source <a href="http://www.economicsdiscussion.net/cost/short-run-and-long-run-average-cost-curve/25523" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-18T20:58:29.867Z
2017-10-18T20:58:29.867Z
london
<p>Denesp's comment is your full answer: it's a badly-drawn chart which fails to do its one job, that was to illustrate that the long-run cost curve consists of joining up the minima of the short-run cost curves.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-17T08:02:09.043Z
2017-10-17T08:02:09.043Z
410 gone
<p>As you can see from the graph, the LRATC doesn't touch the SRATC curves when they're at their minimum. Why is this so? </p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/jB6Ln.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/jB6Ln.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<microeconomics><theory-of-the-firm>
Why is the long-run average production cost not necessarily the same as the minimum average total cost?
Alice.Sumarno
# Why is the long-run average production cost not necessarily the same as the minimum average total cost?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-10-17)

As you can see from the graph, the LRATC doesn't touch the SRATC curves when they're at their minimum. Why is this so?

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/jB6Ln.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/jB6Ln.jpg)

**Tags:** microeconomics, theory-of-the-firm

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-10-18. Score: 1

There is a nice explanation, just take a look at the source [here](http://www.economicsdiscussion.net/cost/short-run-and-long-run-average-cost-curve/25523).


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### Answer by username_2 on 2017-10-17. Score: 1

Denesp's comment is your full answer: it's a badly-drawn chart which fails to do its one job, that was to illustrate that the long-run cost curve consists of joining up the minima of the short-run cost curves.


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