A veterinarian has to give antibiotics to a dog with a leg infection. The dog is given 200 mg, and the antibiotic decays at a rate of 25% every 4 hours. What amount of medicine is left in the dog after 16 hours.

1 answer

To determine the amount of antibiotics left in the dog after 16 hours, we can use the formula for exponential decay. The formula for the amount remaining after time \( t \) is:

\[ A = A_0 \times (1 - r)^n \]

where:

  • \( A \) is the amount remaining,
  • \( A_0 \) is the initial amount,
  • \( r \) is the decay rate,
  • \( n \) is the number of time intervals.

Given:

  • \( A_0 = 200 \) mg (initial amount),
  • \( r = 0.25 \) (25% decay rate),
  • \( t = 16 \) hours.

First, we need to determine \( n \), which is the number of 4-hour intervals in 16 hours:

\[ n = \frac{t}{4} = \frac{16}{4} = 4 \]

Now we can substitute the values into the formula:

\[ A = 200 \times (1 - 0.25)^4 \]

Calculating \( (1 - 0.25) \):

\[ 1 - 0.25 = 0.75 \]

Now substituting back into the formula:

\[ A = 200 \times (0.75)^4 \]

Calculating \( (0.75)^4 \):

\[ (0.75)^4 = 0.75 \times 0.75 \times 0.75 \times 0.75 = 0.31640625 \]

Now substitute this value into the equation:

\[ A = 200 \times 0.31640625 \approx 63.28125 \]

Thus, the amount of antibiotic left in the dog after 16 hours is approximately:

\[ \boxed{63.28} \text{ mg} \]