Question

Drug medications are often prescribed on the basis of body weight. The adult dosage of Elixophyllin, a drug used to treat asthma, is 6 mg/kg of body mass. What is the dose in milligrams for a 150-lb person?

Answer 1

The dose is 408 mg.

Explanation:

This is an exercise in unit conversion.

We should first convert the mass of the person to kilograms.

`150 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("lb"))) × "1 kg"/(2.205 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("lb")))) = "68.03 kg"`

Now we can calculate the dose.

`68.03 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("kg body mass"))) × "6 mg Elixophyllin"/(1 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("g body mass")))) = "408 mg Elixophyllin"`