Consumer surplus helps quantify the benefits consumers derive from purchasing goods or services at a price lower than what they are willing to pay. In a market, there are numerous consumers who purchase a product. Different consumers place different values on the same product. For example, consider three shoppers buying a jar of honey. The market price of the jar is $10 per unit. Alice, who values the honey at $20, has a consumer surplus of $10. Ben, willing to pay $18, enjoys a surplus of $8. Clara, who values the jar at $15, gains a surplus of $5.

This individual analysis can be extended to understand consumer surplus in a broader market context. The market demand curve represents the relationship between the price of a good and the quantity demanded by all consumers. Consumer surplus is represented by the area above the market price, which is below the demand curve and up to the quantity demanded at the market price. Typically, this area is triangular in shape, given a linear demand curve. The base of the consumer surplus triangle is the quantity of the good sold at the market price. The height of the triangle is the difference between the highest price consumers are willing to pay (the demand choke price) and the actual market price. 

The demand choke price is the price at which no consumer is willing to buy a good, resulting in a quantity demanded of zero. On a demand curve graph, the demand choke price corresponds to the point where the demand curve intersects the vertical price axis, indicating that no quantity will be demanded at or above this price.