Math 1010

Drug Filtering Lab

Name: Kara VanSted

The purpose of this lab is to come up with a continuous model for exponential decay.
Dot assumes that her kidneys can filter out 25% of a drug in her blood every 4 hours. She knows
that she will need to take a drug test for an interview in a couple of days. She plans on taking one
1000-milligram dose of the drug to help manage her pain.
1.) Fill in the table showing the amount of the drug in your blood as a function of time and round
each value to the nearest milligram. The first two data points are already completed.

TIME SINCE
TAKING
THE DRUG (HR)
0
4
8
12
16
20
24
28
32
36
40
44
48
52
56
60
64
68
What might a model for this data look like?

AMOUNT OF
DRUG
IN HER BLOOD
(MG)
1000
750
563
422
316
237
178
133
100
75
56
42
32
24
18
13
10
8

2.) Use a graphing utility to make a plot of the above data. Label axes appropriately.

1200

Drugs in system (mg)

1000
800
600
400
200
0
0

12

16

20

24

28

32

36

40

44

48

52

56

60

64

68

Hours since taking drug

3.) Based on your graph, what can you say about the data? For example, is there a pattern? Is
there constant slope?
There is a pattern, but not a constant slope. There is a big drop of the total amount in her
system within the first 24 hours, but then the amount does a relatively steady decline until it
leaves her system after approximately 9 days.
4.) How many milligrams of the drug are in Dots blood after 2 days?
32 mg
5.) How many milligrams of the drug are in Dots blood after 5 days?
0.18

mg at 120 hours

6.) How many milligrams of the drug are in Dots blood 30 hours after she took the drug? Explain
your reasoning.
115.6 mg with equation 1000*.75^(30/4) calculated by taking the original dose amount (1000
mg) times by .75 (since the drug amount drops by 25%) to the power of the total number of
hours since taking the drug divided by 4 (since the 25% reduction happens every 4 hours)

7.) A blood test is able to detect the presence of this drug if there is at least 0.1 mg in a persons
blood. How many days will it take before the test will come back negative? Explain your
answer.
5 days until the drug is below 0.1 mg in her blood (right at 132 hours the value will drop to .
075) using the equation 1000*.75^(132/4)

8.) Will the drug ever be completely removed from her system? Explain your reasoning. What
complications might arise from having excess amounts in her system?
At 224 hours (approximately 9 days, 3 hours) the drug will be be below 0.0001 in her system,
effectively at 225 hours the drug should be out of her system. The drug would take longer to
leave her system if she had an excess amount.

9.) Since there is a constant rate of decay, a continuous exponential decay model can be used to
determine how much drug is in her system at any time.

Exponential Decay Model

Where A(t) is amount of drug in blood at time t in hours,

A0 is the initial amount of drug, and
k is the rate of decay (it will be a negative number)

You will have to find the actual value of k that works for this model. Write down the
exponential decay model for the amount of drug in Dots blood as a function of time:

Model:

A=1000 e .0718 t

Now use that model to fill in the following table:

TIME SINCE
TAKING
THE DRUG (HR)
0
4
8
12
16
20
24
28
32
36
40
44
48
52
56
60
64
68

AMOUNT OF
DRUG
IN HER BLOOD
(MG)
1000
750
563.04
422.49
317.02
237.88
178.49
133.94
100.5
75.41
56.59
42.46
31.86
23.91
17.94
13.46
10.1
7.58

10.)
Interpret the parameters of this exponential model in terms of the context of the
problem.
Using the exponential decay model, I had to figure out the rate of decay every hour instead of
using every 4 hours at 25%. This allowed me to calculate the rate by hour instead of jumping
to every 4.

11.)
Compare your values with the estimated values in the model. How close were they?
Why might they be different?
The totals are very close, but not exact. In the decay model, I chose to round to the nearest
hundreths in order to verify my amounts based on the amounts on the above problem. They
are most likely different since the calculation used adjusted the amounts slightly differently
than using the 1000*.75 to the power of hours since taken the drug divided by 4 (since 25%
every 4 hours used in the base of that model)

12.)
Use a graphing utility to graph the original data along with a graph of the model on the
same set of axes.

Amount of drug in blood (mg)

1200
1000
800
600

original model
exponential model

400
200
0
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68
Hours since taking the drug

13.)
Were you expecting a horizontal asymptote? What might that mean in the context of
the problem?
I was not expecting a horizontal asymptote. If there was one, that would mean there is a
calculation that is incorrect since the amounts should always decrease as time increases.

14.)

Using your model, how much drug is in her system 17 hours after taking the drug?

295.05 mg

15.)
Using your model, how long will it take for exactly one-half of the drug to remain in her
system?
9.65 hours

16.)

Using this model, how long will it take for 0.1 mg of the drug to remain in her system?
128 hours

17.)
Do you think the continuous decay model is more accurate for predicting the amount of
drug in her blood? Why? Or why not?
I do think the continuous decay model is more accurate since it allows me to determine exactly
how much of the drug per hour is in her blood

18.)

What other factors should be considered in coming up with a more realistic model?

If she takes another dose of the drug would impact the model and the rate of decay of the drug
in her blood. How much of the drug is needed and for how long.

19.)
Reflective writing: Did this project change the way you think about how math can be
applied to the real world? Write one paragraph stating what ideas changed and why. If this
project did not change the way you think, write how this project gave further evidence to
support your existing opinion about applying math. Be specific.
This project did change the way I think about math and how it is applied in the 'real world'. As
an older student, I've worked in areas that did not require me to use (or even think about)
anything but percentages and basic math skills (add, subtract, multiply, divide...and
occasionally fractions if I adjusted recipes). This project showed me I can use the model to
determine the length of time it may take to remove something (from my system if I need to take
a drug), as long as I know the rate of decay. If I have the rate, I can figure out how long
something will be in my system or even determine how long something may last.