Math Problem help

Published

Im doing some practive questions between our quarters to prepare for the math test we have on the first day and im stuck on a problem ( I know it a easy on but im only 1st year 2nd qtr)

If a pt weighs 82 kg and is to receive Carbenicillin 400mg/kg/day, the total dose would be equal to ______ mg. Round to the nearest whole #.

Any help getting to the answer would be great i dont want the answer given that doesnt help.

If the patient weighs 82 kg, and for every kg they get 400 mg, wouldn't you just multiply 82 by 400 to get 32,800 and then using significant figures round to 30,000 mg?

That's the only answer I can get.

82 kg x 400 mg = 32,800 mg

kg day

the kg cancels out, if you have had chemistry, set it up just like stoichiometry problems or unit canceling, in math it is called dimensional analysis, it all works the same. We had math last semester (our first semester) and this method worked the best for everyone. When you get the method down you can figure anything out :-)

Lots of luck!

Thats the way i worked it but 32800 mg seemed way to large of a number thats almost half body weight in meds

keep in mind that is for the total amount for the day, not the amount given per each dose. I always double check my math when a number seems a bit large. :-)

Are you sure you copied the question correctly? If you did it's 82kg * 400mg/kg = 32,800mg per dose (assuming 1 dose/day). I would guess that something is missing from this equation though since the patient would probably die from that kind of dose.

Thats exactly how the question was written im guessing is was supposed to be 400mcg/kg/day micrograms to mg would make ALOT more sense.

+ Join the Discussion