Preferences determine whether or not the consumer would choose one bundle of goods over another, based on differences in utility. Either they prefer bundle A to bundle B, they prefer bundle B to bundle A, or they are indifferent between the two.
Consumers prefer more of any quantity to less.
Because all points on an indifference curve represent bundles for which the consumer has the same utility, the consumer is indifferent between these bundles. Indifference curves cannot have thickness 2. Distinct indifference curves can never intersect 3. Thus, indifference curves are uncharacteristically drawn with positive slopes. Download the Short Run's screen saver.