Total cost

From Freepedia

In economics, the total cost describes the total economic cost of production and is made up of variable and fixed costs.

Variable costs are costs to production which vary according to quantity produced, such as raw materials. Fixed costs are costs which are constant, and can only be eliminated by going out of business, such as cost of machinery upkeep. (Compare sunk cost) However, in the long run all fixed costs, along with all factors of production, are considered variable costs.

Note that the ratio of the change in total cost to the change in output is the marginal cost.