Anyone Here Good at Math? - Math and Medications

[Free Spirit]

Yeah these instructions are totally bizarre.

Let's start with some basic formulas (based on the internet conversion chart supplied with the package instructions in the original post). We'll use these for the examples given.

0.25oz = 7.087g
0.50oz = 14.174g
1oz = 28.349g
2oz = 56.699g

Let's just bypass the Tablespoons for the moment and use only measurements in grams (mass weight).
Calculating both 400mg and 800mg solutions to figure out how many gallons a package will make.

Starting with the bad (package instructions):
400mg: 181g divided by 28.349g (1oz) = 6.38 gallons of solution per package
800mg: 181g divided by 56.699g (2oz) = 3.19 gallons of solution per package

What the package should read:
400mg dose = 1/2 Tbls (.25oz) per gallon of water
800mg dose = 1 Tbls (.5 oz) per gallon of water

Then the math works after you convert ounces to grams
400mg: 181g divided by 7.08g (1/4oz) = 25.53 gallons of solution per package
800mg: 181g divided by 14.174g (1/2oz) = 12.76 gallons of solution per package

I haven't worked that out in Tablespoons yet. Volume and Mass don't always mix and since the package instructions are wrong

.

Of course you don't have to convert anything to grams ounces work to:
800mg: 6.4oz divided by .5oz = 12.8 gallons

 

[casportpony]

Misinformation is a huge pet peeve of mine, lol, but I am so guilty of it, 'cause for 3.5 years I've been telling people that the dose is 1 tablespoon per gallon. Oh, the shame!

Now I get to tell people that I was misinformed. Again, more shame.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Lots of what I do involves google searches, and this is what I found on drugs.com

Quote:
So I take that and all the other stuff we have calculated and it confirms that one pack will make what we think it should.

-Kathy

 

[Free Spirit]

Lots of what I do involves google searches, and this is what I found on drugs.com


So I take that and all the other stuff we have calculated and it confirms that one pack will make what we think it should.

-Kathy

I found the same chart you did and it confirmed for me that I was close. I still did it long had so that I could figure out "how" is was calculated. Which also confirms that the dosage on the packages are off... way off. For this particular med it is only advisable to weigh in ounces on a scale for accuracy at the corrected measurements (400mg .25oz and 800mg at .5oz) The Tablespoons, even if using the corrected version (400mg 1/2Tbls and 800mg 1Tbls) can still be off. Here's why...

I did a kitchen experiment. Got out my scale and measured a few different things with two different tablespoons of which we will call Ta and Tb. To keep it simple I only weighed in ounces as 1oz = 27g.

Flour:
3Ta = 1oz
3Tb = 7/8oz (was nearly another 1/2Tb to reach 1oz)

Salt:
3Ta = 1-7/4oz
3Tb = 1-3/4oz

Sugar:
3Ta = 1-1/4oz
3Tb = 1-1/8oz

Baking Soda:
2Ta = 1oz
2-1/2Tb = 1oz

Corid:
3Ta = 1oz
3Tb = 7/8oz

Seems Corid powder was equal to flour. But the lesson here is not all Tablespoons are equal (if you notice TB measurements are lower). In addition, as we know densities in different masses are not equal weights.

 

[casportpony]

It's interesting that the two tablespoons aren't equal, but that doesn't surprise me. Is one of them made out of metal?

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

When I weighed the Duramycin powder I weighed it out about ten times and averaged the weight to be ~3.3 grams.

-Kathy

 

[Free Spirit]

It's interesting that the two tablespoons aren't equal, but that doesn't surprise me. Is one of them made out of metal?

-Kathy

You nailed it. One was plastic and the other metal. I used a flat blade (dough scraper) to ensure each measure was level.

 

[casportpony]

Quote: I think the metal one is probably more accurate. Which one was the metal one?

-Kathy

 

[Free Spirit]

I think the metal one is probably more accurate. Which one was the metal one?

-Kathy

Tablespoon A.

When I weighed the Duramycin powder I weighed it out about ten times and averaged the weight to be ~3.3 grams.

-Kathy

What did you use to measure 3.3 grams? That's only 0.116oz. How many (or how much of a) Tablespoon is that? I think my brain is about to freeze again, lol.

 

[casportpony]

What would you say if I told you that the makers of Corid claim that 3.5 tablespoons of powder weigh 1 ounce (28.35 grams)?

-Kathy