Math 1010

Drug Filtering Lab

Name: Braidie Gilbert

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

AMOUNT OF
DRUG
IN HER BLOOD
(MG)
1000
750
563
422
613
237
178
133
100
75
56
42
32
24
18
13
10
8

What might a model for this data look like?

This data was a down swooping graph, with a steep slope X axis (time) as the asymptote.

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

1,00
0
80
Amount of
Drugs
60

40

20

16

24

Tim

3.) Based on your graph, what can you say about the data? For example, is there a pattern? Is
there constant slope? No pattern, this is an exponential function so the slope is always
changing and keeps going down the graph.

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?
0.107mg, give or take.
6.) How many milligrams of the drug are in Dots blood 30 hours after she took the drug? Explain
your reasoning. About 115, as 30 hours is right between the 28 and 32 as see in graph above.

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. The minimum is 5 days and 4 hours, but maybe give it 6 days to be sure.

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? No as the X axis is the
asymptote and will never really reach 0. Biologically however our bodies metabolize chemicals
in and out constantly, as well as absorbing what it can use, the actual drug itself will eventually
work itself out.

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 ) A0e 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: 1000e^(0.07x)

Now use that model to fill in the following table:

TIME SINCE
TAKING
THE DRUG (HR)
0
4
8
12
16

AMOUNT OF
DRUG
IN HER BLOOD
(MG)
1000
750
565
422
316

20
24
28
32
36
40
44
48
52
56
60
64
68

237
178
133
100
75
56
42
32
24
18
13
10
8

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

11.)
Compare your values with the estimated values in the model. How close were they?
Why might they be different? They were within decimal tolerance with this the numbers are
ultimately unchanged.

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

1,00
0
80
Amount of
Drugs
60

40

20

16

24

Tim

13.)
Were you expecting a horizontal asymptote? What might that mean in the context of
the problem? With an exponential there is always an asymptote since it removes a percentage
at a time and not definite unit.

14.)

Using your model, how much drug is in her system 17 hours after taking the drug?
Roughly, 580-600mg.

15.)
Using your model, how long will it take for exactly one-half of the drug to remain in her
system? About 5 or 6 hours after consumption.

16.)

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

On the 5th day.

17.)
Do you think the continuous decay model is more accurate for predicting the amount of
drug in her blood? Why? Or why not?
It is definitely functional, but other factors are to be considered if you want to get into very
accurate numbers.

18.)

What other factors should be considered in coming up with a more realistic model?
The subjects weight, overall mass, water/food intake, and any other general information
about subject.

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.
I think this project did open my eyes to the fact that mathematics is used all around us daily.
Honestly I have never been too fond of mathematics, but thought this project was pretty
decent. I am a very visual leaner and I pick up on concepts easier if they are present this way.
So I think some of this project was nice because it catered to the visual aspect of things with
the charts and graphs. It was nice to have these applications in this math project, which is one
reason why I chose this project to complete. I now realize in more depth that math can be used
in my life with situations and problems that may come up. Math is all around us and I never
really considered that because I dont particularly love mathematics. This was a very useful
project and I think it truly helped me realize that math isnt just a snooze fest!