Math 1050

Drug Filtering Lab

Name:Isaac Covarrubias

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
316
237
178
133
100
75
56
42
32
24
18
13
10
8

What might a model for this data look like?

A graphing curving down with time.

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

3.) Based on your graph, what can you say about the data? For example, is there a pattern? Is
there constant slope?
Not really it looks to be decreasing as time passes that is about it, no pattern to follow
and their isnt a constant slope either.
4.) How many milligrams of the drug are in Dots blood after 2 days?
32 millis
5.) How many milligrams of the drug are in Dots blood after 5 days?
0.107 millis
6.) How many milligrams of the drug are in Dots blood 30 hours after she took the drug? Explain
your reasoning.
Roughly 115 millis, as 30 hours is right between the 28 and 32 displayed in the graph.

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 should be at least 5-6 days to make them come back negative, however if you
really want to pass the test, you should give it a week.

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?

From the results of the horizontal asymptote it almost seems like it wont ever leave the
persons body because it continues to infinity. From what I have learned all my life, math is
never wrong so no I dont believe it will ever get out completely.
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 ekt
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:
Now use
fill in the

that model to
following table:

Model: 1000e^(0.07x)

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
23
24
18
13
10
8

10.)
Interpret the parameters of this exponential model in terms of the context of the
problem.
The rate of decay (k) is -0.0719 or about 7.2%. The drop in dosage becomes less and
less as the drug continues to leave the system. Solving for k, we can determine a consistent
decay rate based off the given time (t)
11.)
Compare your values with the estimated values in the model. How close were they?
Why might they be different?
The numbers are so close together that it almost looks like they are unchanged and
thus making it hard to tell apart.

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

13.)
Were you expecting a horizontal asymptote? What might that mean in the context of
the problem? I was expecting an asymptote because there always has to be one for
exponential functions, however I wasnt sure what kind there would be. I think in context it

means that it is almost impossible for the drug to leave the system, rather they cant detect it.

14.)

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

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

16.)
Using this model, how long will it take for 0.1 mg of the drug to remain in her system?
The 5th maybe 6th 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?
Yes i think it is one of the best ways without using technology aside from the graphing
part to find of drug in her blood because from the results it looks pretty accurate if not the most
accurate you can get without technology.

18.)

What other factors should be considered in coming up with a more realistic model?
How much food the person has eaten how much they have peed because that
can flush things out from what I have heard, the persons weight.

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 know a few people that could use this kind of mathematicians in the real world. So yes
I do think this very well changed my ideas on math and how it can be applied to the real world.
Before this problem I didnt see the concept of why it is needed to learn these kinds of
problems because its not like I needed to find out this stuff before, although I still dont I think I
can actually see why it would be applied to real life though.