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Wafa Shamlan Calculations PhWafaShamlan 1

SYSTEMS OF MEASURE

MEASURING SYSTEM S

COMMON SYSTEM METRIC SYSTEM

Apothecaries’ system Avoirdupois system length units

wieght units
volume uints

FUNDAMENTAL UNITS
Equivalents of Length meter (m)
1 inch = 2.54 cm
1 meter (m) = 39.37 in
Equivalents of Volume liter (l)
1 fluidounce (fl. oz.) = 29.57 mL
1 pint (16 fl. oz.) = 473 mL
1 quart (32 fl. oz.) = 946 mL
1 gallon, US (128 fl. oz.) = 3785 mL
1 gallon, UK = 4545 mL
Equivalents of Weight gram (g)
1 pound (lb, Avoirdupois) = 454 g
1 kilogram (kg) = 2.2 lb

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For example

Convert from micometer to centimeter

1m = 100 cm 1 m = 1000,000 mcm

100 cm = 1000,000 mcm  1cm = 10,000 mcm

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How many colchicine tablets, each containing 600 mcg, may be prepared
from 30 g of colchicine?
50,000 tablets
Reduce 1.256 g to micrograms, to milligrams, and to kilograms.
1,256,000 mcg
1256 mg
0.001256 kg

Remember … before any mathematical calculations , the units must be same .

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 Avoir du pois
“measure of weight*”
“commercial
uses”
Pound “Ib.” Ounce “oz.” Grain “gr.”
1 16 7000
1 437.5

Apothecaries
“Fluid measure”
Gallon Quart Pint Fluidounce Fluidrachm Minim
“compounding
“gal.” “qt.” “pt.” “f℥” “f ʒ” “m.” prescription”
1 4 8 128 1024 61440

1 2 32 256 15360

1 16 128 7680

1 8 480

1 60

Apothecaries
“measure of weight.”
Pound Ounce Drachm Scruple Grain
“Ib.” “℥” “ʒ” “э” “gr.”

1 12 96 288 5760

1 8 24 480

1 3 60

1 20

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Examples

Reduce ℥ss ʒii ℈I to grain reduce :

℥ss= 0.5 X 480 = 250 gr. f℥ iv fʒ iiss to fluidrachm
ʒii = 2 x 60 =120 gr. f℥ iv = 4 x 8 fʒ = 32 f ʒ
℈I = 1 x 20 = 20 gr fʒ iiss = 2.5 f ʒ
: 380 gr. = 34.5 f ʒ

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 Can you complete this hundred square? Remember, the Romans had no symbol for
zero.

I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X

XI XII 13 XIV 15 16 17 18 19 XX

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 XL

XLI 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 L

51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 LIX 60

61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70

71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90

91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

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Basics of roman numbers :
ss 0.5 i 1
V 5 X 10
L 50 C 100
D 500 M 1000

A)

If second number bigger than first one ( subtract )  xL 50 - 10 = 40

If second number smaller than or equal first one ( add )  XX 10 + 10 = 20 Xi 10 + 1 = 1

B)

We have subtractor roman numbers; they are only used for subtraction

i 1
X 10
C 100
Also every little subtract the next 2 romans

ss 0.5 i 1
V 5 X 10
L 50 C 100
D 500 M 1000
To ( add ) we can repeat number up to 3 times  Viii = 8 Lxx = 70

To ( subtract ) cannot repeat ever , used the number for one time = iX = 9

Example 2018 = MMXViii

2000 MM
2018 10 X
18
8 Viii

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 REDUCING AND ENLARGING FORMULAS
Th e following prescription for cold cream provides a 100-g quantity.
What mass of each ingredient is required to provide 1 lb (AV) of cream?
Rx
white wax 12.5 g
mineral oil 60.0 g
lanolin 2.5 g
sodium borate 1.0 g
rose water 24.0 g
1 lb = 454 g
454
100
x 4.54 (multiplication factor to use in calculating the quantities of each ingredient)
12.5 g x 4.54 = 56.8 g of white wax
60.0 g x 4.54 = 272 g of mineral oil
2.5 g x 4.54 = 11.4 g of lanolin
1.0 g x 4.54 = 4.54 g of sodium borate
24.0 g x 4.54 = 109 g of rose wat

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 CONCENTRATION EXPRESSIONS
Percentage
The term percent and its corresponding sign (%) mean ‘‘by the hundred’’ or ‘‘in a hundred,’’
and percentage means ‘‘rate per hundred’’; so 50 percent (or 50%) and a percentage of 50 are
equivalent expressions.
50
50 % = = 0.5 = one half
100
Percent weight-in-volume Percent volume-in-volume Percent weight-in-weight
(w/v) (v/v) (w/w)
expresses the number of expresses the number of expresses the number of
grams of a constituent in milliliters of a constituent in grams of a constituent in
100 mL of solution or 100 mL of solution or liquid 100 g of solution or
liquid preparation and is preparation. preparation.
used regardless of whether
water or another liquid is
the solvent or vehicle.
Expressed as: % w/v. Expressed as: % v/v. Expressed as: % w/w.
How many grams of Peppermint spirit contains How many grams of a drug
dextrose are required to 10% v/v of peppermint oil. substance should be added to
prepare 4000 mL of a 5% What volume of the spirit will 240 mL of water to make a 4%
solution? contain 75 mL of peppermint (w/w) solution?
4000 mL represents 4000 g oil? 100% - 4% = 96% (by weight)
of solution 5% = 0.05 of water 240 mL of water
4000gx 0.05 = 200 g, answer. 10 ml  100 ml weighs 240 g
Or, solving by dimensional 75 ml  x ml 96 % 240𝑔
analysis: =
75 𝑥 100 4% 𝑥
= 750 ml 240 𝑥 4
5g  100ml 10 = 10 g
Xg  4000 ml 96
5𝑔
x 4000 mL= 200 g, If 1500 g of a solution contains
100 𝑚𝑙
answer. 75 g of a drug substance, what
is the percentage strength
(w/w) of the solution?
1500g  100%
75 g  X%

75 𝑥 100%
=5%
1500
Ratio Strength Parts per Million (PPM)
Ratio strength is another way of expressing The strengths of very dilute solutions are
percentage strength. For example, a 1% w/v ommonly expressed in terms of parts per million
solution and a ratio strength of 1:100 w/v are (ppm) . i e., the number of parts of the agent per
equivalent. 1 million
Express 1: 4000 as a percentage strength. . For example, fluoridated drinking water in which
1 part  4000 parts fluoride added at levels of between 1 to 4 parts
X %  100% per million (1:1,000,000 to 4:1,000,000) for the
100 purpose of reducing dental caries.
X= 4000 = 0.025 %

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 MOLARITY
Molarity is the number of moles of solute dissolved in one litre of solution. Therefore, the
equation to find the molarity (M) of a solution is :

moles solute
molarity =
liters solution

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 DILUTION AND CONCENTRATION

Dilution is the process of preparing a less concentrated solution from a more concentrated
one.

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 ALLIGATION ALTERNATE
Alligation alternate may be used to determine the proportion or quantities of two or more
components to combine in order to prepare a mixture of a desired strength.
For example, if a pharmacist wished to prepare a solution of a specified strength by
combining two or more other solutions of differing concentrations of the same ingredient, the
proportion or volumes of each solution to use may be determined by alligation alternate.

Prepare 100 ml of 70 % from two solutions have conc. 80% and 30%.

4
80% 40% 4 5
𝑥 100 = 80 𝑚𝑙

70%
30% 10%
1 1
5
𝑥 100 = 20𝑚𝑙

Subtract higher concentration from final conc. to give volume of lower conc. and vice
versa.

Then divided resulting parts on total parts and multiplication with numbers of solution
millimeter

So .. we need to 80 ml of 80% and 20ml of 30% to prepare 100ml of 70% conc.

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 ALLIGATION MEDIAL

Result of mix ( 300 ml of 30%) and (500 ml of 70% )

( 30% 𝑥 300𝑚𝑙 ) + (70% 𝑥 500𝑚𝑙 )

𝐶𝑡 = 800

= 43.75%

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 RATE OF FLOW OF INTRAVENOUS FLUID
A physician prescribes a 5𝜇𝑔/𝑘𝑔/𝑚𝑖𝑛 IV drip of dopamine for a 175-lb. patient,
and the pharmacist adds an ampul of dopamine (200 mg/5 mL) to a 250-mL
bottle of D5W. What drip rate should be run, in drops per minute, using a
minidrip set that delivers 60 drops/mL?
Answer : 30.45 or 30 drops/min
1) convert lb to kg 175 lb ÷ 2.2 = 79.5 kg
2) 1 kg  5 𝜇𝑔
79.5  x 𝜇𝑔
X= 397.7 𝜇𝑔/𝑚𝑖𝑛 ÷ 1000 =0.3977 𝑚𝑔/𝑚𝑖𝑛
3) 200 mg  250 + 5 = 255 ml
0.3977  x ml
X= 0.507 ml
4) 1 ml  60 dp
0.507 ml  30.4 dp ≈ 30 dp/min

CALCULATING DOSES
According
to age

• Young’s rule Dose for Child   Age of child years   X adult dose
 age years  12

• Cowling’s rule  
Dose for Child   Age at next birthday years  X adult dose
 24

• Fried’s rule for Dose for Infant   Age months   X adult dose
 150
infants

• Clark’s rule
   X adult dose
Dose for infant   weight lb
 150

• According to body   
Child dose   BSA of the child m
2

2  X adult dose
surface area (BSA)  1.73 m 

 
Child dose  BSA of the child m2 X dose per m2
According Patient ' s height cm  Patient ' s weight kg 
to wieght Patient' s BSAm2 
3600
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 Vd 𝑑𝑜𝑠𝑒 Vd = Volume of distribution
𝑉𝑑 = 𝐶𝑜
Co = Conc. of drug in plasma at zero time
Loading dose = Vd x Css Loading dose .. is the dose needed to reach steady
Or = Vd x ( C2 - C1) state
Css = Concentration of the drug in blood at steady
state
C1 = Concentration of the drug in plasma
C2 = Concentration of the drug needed to add to C1 to
reach equired conc.
(Tss) (Tss) = 4.5 or 5 t1/2 (Tss) Time required to reach steady state
t1/2 t 1  0.693 t1/2 = the time required for the concentration of a
2 ke substance in the body to decrease by half.

 ln C1  ln C2  Ke = elimination rate conistant

ke 
t1  t 2
CLEARANCE (0693 𝑥 𝑉𝑑 )
Cl =
𝑇 1/2
rate of elimination
Cl =
drug conc
Cl = Ke x Vd
Cl = renal Cl + non renal Cls
Bioavailability F = 𝐴𝑈𝐶 AUC = Area Under Curve
𝐶𝑂𝑁𝐶
𝐴𝑈𝐶 ( 𝐸𝑋𝐶𝑇𝑅𝐴𝑉𝐴𝑆𝐶𝑈𝐿𝐴𝑅 )
F= 𝑥 100
𝐴𝑈𝐶 𝐼𝑁𝑇𝑅𝐴𝑉𝐴𝑆𝐶𝑈𝐿𝐴𝑅
CrCl Cockcroft-Gault equation

CrCl 
140  patient ' s age in years  Body weight in kg
72  serum creatinine in mg / dl
For females: CrCl = 0.85 X CrCl determined using formula for males
TI The therapeutic index The minimum effective dose, ED50, is the dose
𝑻𝑫𝟓𝟎 that produces the therapeutic effect in 50% of the
= population.
𝑬𝑪𝟓𝟎 The toxic dose, TD50, is the dose that is toxic to
50% of the population. This is used in human
studies.

References :
Pharmaceutical Calculations 13th Edition Ansel, Howard C.,
Comprehensive Pharmacy Review Leon Shargel
https://kkux.org/courses/course-v1:KKUx+SPLE001+2019_A1/info

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