# 8.1: Introduction to Indifference Curves

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## What you’ll learn to do: find consumer equilibrium using indifference curves and a budget constraint

Although numbers can be used to illustrate consumer preferences, economists don’t believe that we can objectively measure someone’s utility. In this section, you’ll learn an alternative way of identifying consumer equilibrium that only requires that you can rank preferences—that is, you can say whether you prefer Option A to Option B.
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