Table 1.

Summary of the variables used in the theory described here, along with alternative notations for the same quantities used by other authors

Variable	Meaning	Other notations
P	Price, work performed per unit of good received	C
Q	Consumption
R	Revenue, total work performed at a given price point	O
Q0	Preferred consumption level when price is negligible
Rmax	Maximum work performed to obtain goods at any price	Omax
Pmax	Price at which maximum work is performed
${\tilde{P}}_{\max }$	Normalized Pmax, equal to Q0Pmax	Pmax,nPmax
α	Fitted parameter in exponential model, inversely proportional to Pmax
ᾶ	Normalized α, equal to α/Q0, also called “essential value,” inversely proportional to ${\tilde{P}}_{\max }$	α