Question

As a nurse, part of your daily duties is to mix medications in the proper proportions for your patients. For one of your regular patients, you always mix Medication A with Medication B in the same proportion. Last week, your patient's doctor indicated that you should mix 20 milligrams of Medication A with 16 milligrams of Medication B. However this week, the doctor said to only use 8 milligrams of Medication B. How many milligrams of Medication A should be mixed this week?

Answer 1

10 milligrams of Medication A

Explanation:

We'll write proportions/ratios for this:

20:16 is the usual proportion, and x:8 is this week's dose. The ratio from A to B has to be equal, so

20/16 = x/8

Cross-multiply:

(20)(8) = (16)(x)

160 = 16x

divide both sides by 16

x = 10

Please let me know if you have questions about this answer.