Math 1010

Drug Filtering Lab

Name: Kaili Barnes

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
appropriately.

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

What might a model for this data look like?

The model would start out with a steep

downward slope and begin to turn into a
horizontal line that gets closer and closer to
zero.

2.) Use a graphing utility to make a plot of

the above data. Label axes

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 constant slope but not a consistent one. The slope keeps going but its gets
less steep as it goes on.

4.) How many milligrams of the drug are in Dots blood after 2 days?
32 milligrams
5.) How many milligrams of the drug are in Dots blood after 5 days?
After 5 days, there would be 0.179 mg. in Dots blood which is still detectable.
6.) How many milligrams of the drug are in Dots blood 30 hours after she took the drug? Explain
your reasoning.
After 30 hours there would be 116 mg in her system. I replaced 30 hours with and ^7.5
into the equation.
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.
It would take no less than 5.5 days for the drug level to be less than 0.1 mg.

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?
Looking at the graph, it looks as if the line will never touch zero and the drug will
continue to break down in Dots body. It is still there but it will climb below testing level.

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
A(t ) A0 e kt
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(t)=1000e(-0.07192)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

AMOUNT OF
DRUG
IN HER BLOOD
(MG)
1000
750
563
422
316
237
178
133
100
75
56

44
48
52
56
60
64
68

42
31
24
18
13
10
8

10.)
Interpret the parameters of this exponential model in terms of the context of the
problem.
A which is the Y axis represents the amount of the drug, while X represents the time
passed.

11.)
Compare your values with the estimated values in the model. How close were they?
Why might they be different?
12.)
We found that the values were the same to where we rounded them to.

13.)
Use a graphing utility to graph the original data along with a graph of the model on the
same set of axes.

14.)
Were you expecting a horizontal asymptote? What might that mean in the context of
the problem?
Yes and this explains why the drug level will never really reach zero.

15.)

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

16.)
Using your model, how long will it take for exactly one-half of the drug to remain in her
system?
10 hours

17.)

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

18.)
Do you think the continuous decay model is more accurate for predicting the amount of
drug in her blood? Why? Or why not?
We actually found it to be the same. We feel, however, that down the line the
model would be more accurate.

19.)

What other factors should be considered in coming up with a more realistic model?
Rounding is a bg factor in these models,

20.)
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.

We felt this project put all the math that we have learned about in this class in
perspective. We always think, When am I ever going to use this in our lives?
Its interesting to think these are essential to our everyday lives even though
we may not see it all the time. This project has sparked our curiosity to find
more ways that math influences our lives not only in the medical world but in
everyday life.