A drug 'Painomore' has a half-life of 4 hours in the bloodstream, where half-life of a drug is defined to be the time taken for the drug to reduce by 50% in the bloodstream. The drug is formulated to be administered in doses of milligrams for every 12 hours.
- (i)
Find the amount of 'Painomore' that is left in the bloodstream just before the second dose is administered, giving your answer in terms of .
- (ii)
If is the amount of 'Painomore' left in the bloodstream after the dose, show that where is an exact constant to be determined.
- (iii)
An amount of more than 60 milligrams of 'Painomore' in the bloodstream is considered toxic. Find the largest possible value of D for the drug to be given repeatedly over a long period of time without harming the patient.
- (iv)
For subsequent parts of the question, use D = 40.
Find the least number of doses to be administered to the patient so that the amount of drug in the bloodstream after the last dose is within 4.3 milligrams of 50 milligrams.
- (v)
For a patient with a special medical condition, the maximum recommended dosage of 'Painomore' is 20 milligrams to be taken once daily.
A doctor advised his patient with the special medical condition to take 4 milligrams of the drug on the first day and increase the intake of the drug by 2 milligrams every subsequent day until the maximum dose of 20 milligrams is reached. Thereafter, the patient is to take 20 milligrams daily over the remaining course of the medication. Find the total amount of drug the patient has taken over the entire course of 14 days.
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Worked solution
11(i)
1. Determine the number of half-lives that elapse between the first and second dose
Time between doses hours
Number of half-lives
2. Calculate the amount of drug left just before the second dose
Amount of drug left
\frac{1}{8}D
11(ii)
1. Determine the amount of drug after successive doses by identifying the common ratio.
From the half-life of 4 hours, the proportion of drug remaining after 12 hours is .
Amount after 1st dose,
Amount after 2nd dose,
Amount after 3rd dose,
By extension, after the dose:
2. Apply the sum formula for a finite geometric series.
This is a geometric series with first term , common ratio , and terms.
Using the sum of a geometric progression :
3. Simplify to match the given form and determine the constant $k$.
Comparing this with , we have .
11(iii)
1. Find the exact constant $k$ by identifying $U_n$ as the sum of a geometric series (required from part ii).
From the context, the half-life is 4 hours, so in 12 hours the drug reduces by a factor of .
The amount in the bloodstream immediately after the -th dose forms a geometric series with first term and common ratio .
Using the formula for the sum of a finite geometric series:
Thus, the constant .
2. Determine the long-term maximum amount of drug in the bloodstream and solve for $D$.
Over a long period of time as the doses are given repeatedly, , which implies .
The maximum amount of drug in the bloodstream (occurring immediately after each dose) converges to the sum to infinity:
To prevent the drug level from ever being toxic, this long-term maximum must not exceed 60 milligrams.
11(iv)
1. Substitute $D=40$ and the constant $k=\frac{8}{7}$ found in part (ii) into the formula for $U_n$.
2. Formulate an inequality for $U_n$ to be within 4.3 mg of 50 mg.
We require , which translates to .
Since the limiting maximum amount over time is , will always be strictly less than .
Thus, the condition simplifies solely to :
3. Solve the exponential inequality for $n$.
Taking on both sides:
4. State the least integer value of doses.
Since represents the number of doses, it must be an integer.
The least integer satisfying is .
4
11(v)
1. Form an equation to find the day when the dosage reaches the maximum of 20 mg.
The daily dosages form an arithmetic progression with first term and common difference .
Let be the day the dosage reaches .
2. Solve for $n$.
The dosage reaches on the 9th day.
3. Calculate the total drug taken during the first 9 days.
Using the sum formula :
4. Calculate the drug taken over the remaining days and the final total amount.
The remaining days in the 14-day course .
Drug taken during the remaining days .
Total drug taken .
208\text{ mg}
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