Real-Life Math -- Solution
You're recommending a dosage of Ritalin to a patient with ADHD.
You want to be administer the proper amount, so you carefully prescribe how
much should be taken.
Part A
You want your patient
to take 24 units of Ritalin per day, and keep him within the proper number
of dosages. There are 2 possible ways to administer this medication. Remember:
the recommended number of doses per day is between 2 and 4, and each dose
must be between 5 and 10 units.
If you gave 2 doses:
24
/ 2 = 12
You'd be administering 12 units per sitting,
and this is above the recommended single dosage. This isn't an acceptable
dose.
If you gave 3 doses:
24 / 3 = 8
You'd
be administering 8 units per sitting, which falls into the acceptable dosage.
If
you gave 4 doses:
24 / 4 = 6
You'd be administering
6 units per sitting. This also falls within the acceptable single dose, and
is also an acceptable number.
Part B
If you decide
to up this dose to 38 units, how many times per day should he take the medication?
Begin
with the maximum of 4 doses per day:
38 / 4 = 9.5 units
You
must administer this medication 4 times per day, so that you don't go over
the 5 to 10 units limit.
"We really use math very little
in our day-to-day activities, other than for research purposes," says Dr.
Kamal Rungta. "We may use it to figure out recommended dosages and trial periods."