The long-run average cost (LRAC) curve illustrates the minimum cost per unit for a firm throughout all its output levels, given that all production factors are variable. The long-run average cost curve can influence the size and number of firms competing in an industry. For instance, when the LRAC curve has an obvious low point, it will mean that a firm producing a different amount will incur higher costs. Secondly, alterations in technology could affect the outcome. Large scale producers are deemed to have an added advantage over small ones since the downward-sloping economies of scale stretched over a larger output quantity. Lastly, a possible pattern is the constant returns to scale, where the scale doesn't vary much as the scale declines or rises. Inputs in this shape can expand even when economies have exhausted, but it won't change production's average cost.