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During your journey, you develop an abscessed tooth and have to visit the dentist. You are prescribed an antibiotic with a dosage of 7.5 mg/kg every six hours. If you weigh 128 pounds and the antibiotic comes in 250 mg tablets, how many tablets should you take each day?

(Note: 1 kg ≈ 2.20462 pounds)

Answer :

Answer:

I should take 10.44 tablets in a day, approximately 10.5 tablets.

Step-by-step explanation:

In order to solve this problem we need to convert the weight from pounds to kilograms, to do that we need to divide it by 2.205.

[tex]w = \frac{128}{2.205}\\w = 58.05 \text{ kg}[/tex]

Since I need to take 7.5 mg per kg of body weight, then in order to find the dosage we need to multiply the weight in kg by 7.5.

[tex]\text{dosage} = 58*7.5 = 435 \text{ mg}[/tex]

Since I need to take it every six hours and there are 24 hours in a day, we will have to take 4 dosages in a day, therefore we need:

[tex]\text{dosage(day)} = 435*6 = 2,610 \text{ mg}[/tex]

The antibiotic comes in 250 mg in tablets, therefore the number of tablets is:

[tex]tablets = \frac{2610}{250} = 10.44[/tex]

I should take 10.44 tablets in a day, approximately 10.5 tablets.

Final answer:

After converting your weight to kilograms, calculating the dosage in mg, and determining tablet count, you should take 2 tablets four times a day, totaling 8 tablets daily.

Explanation:

To solve this problem, the first step is to convert the weight from pounds to kilograms since the dosage is given in mg per kilogram. We know that 1 kg is approximately 2.2 pounds. Therefore, 128 pounds is about 58.18 kg (128/2.2).

Next, we calculate the dosage. The dosage is 7.5 mg per kg, so multiply that by the weight in kg: 7.5 mg/kg x 58.18 kg = 436.35 mg per dose.

The antibiotic comes in 250 mg tablets, so to calculate the number of tablets, divide the total dosage by the size of the tablets: 436.35 mg / 250 mg/tablet = 1.75 tablets.

However, you can't really take 1.75 tablets. Since it's not safe to underdose, you should round up to 2 tablets.

Finally, since the medication is to be taken every 6 hours, that means it's taken 4 times a day. So, you would take 2 tablets 4 times a day, totaling 8 tablets daily.

Learn more about dosage calculation here:

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