Consider the following cost information for a firm that operates

in a perfectly competitive market. Current price is $3.

Q (quantity of output)	Total cost ($)
0	14
2	16
4	20
6	26
8	34
10	44
12	56

(1) Calculate the marginal cost for each entry of the quantity in the above table, and using the marginal costs that you calculated, find the optimal quantity of output.

(2) Evaluate the profitability at the optimal quantity of output, and make a decision on whether or not to produce the optimal quantity of output in the short run.