Real-Life Math
You are a clinical research physician. You are conducting research on a drug that sometimes causes patients to experience iron deficiency (called anemia).
You must be able to tell if the condition is anemia, and not a molecular disorder known as thalassemia. With thalassemia, the molecules of the hemoglobin are abnormal.
Your laboratory results show that the patient's MCV (mean corpuscular volume -- it determines the size of the red blood cells) reading is 90. The hemoglobin count is 9 and the red cell count is 5. (The units are cells per microliter.)
You are using a formula called the discriminate function (DF). This formula tells you whether a blood sample shows anemia or thalassemia.
The formula is:
DF = MCV - [(hemoglobin count x 5) - the red blood count - K]
K is always equal to 3.4.
If the DF is greater than 1, the patient is suffering from iron deficiency.
If the DF is less than 1, the patient is suffering from thalassemia.
Solve the formula. That will determine whether the patient has iron deficiency or thalassemia.