Answers and Explanation to Challenge Problem #1 By Alex Kipina For starters, we all are going to have to understand sigma

notation if we expect to win this competition:

f ( n)
n=1

This expression represents the following sum: f (1)+ f (2)+ f (3)...+ f (n) What we are looking at is the sum of incrementing functions from a start to a finish. It increments by one each time, so all function inputs will be integers. The number below the sigma sign represents the start of the range and the n represents the maximum value it will increment to.
10

n2
n=1

This represents the following: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 Part A) The problem explains to us that any Residual of initial quantity Q can be modeled as Q(e-kt) where k is the some given decay parameter and t is the time that has passed. That being said, the first problem asks us to fill in the table, given the first two: Interval n 1 2 3 4 5 n Amount An Q Q(ekt+ 1) Q(e2kt + ekt + 1) Q( e3kt + e2kt + ekt + 1) Q(e4kt + e3kt + e2kt + ekt + 1) Q( enkt+ 1)
n=1 n1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22 2 2

Residual Rn
Qe
kt

Q(ekt+ 1)ekt Q( e2kt + ekt ) Q(e3kt + e2kt + ekt ) Q(e4kt + e3kt + e2kt + ekt ) Q(e5kt + e4kt + e3kt + e2kt + ekt ) Q( enkt )
n=1 n

To fill in the remaining values in the table, I knew that the next amount added would also be Q. It would be added to the remaining amount from before. The following expression represents the initial amount for interval 2: Q+ Qekt which can be factored as follows : Q(ekt + 1)

To find the next residual, given the initial amount, we multiply by the following, again: Q( ekt+ 1)ekt Q( e2kt + ekt ) This amount plus Q is the next initial amount: Q( e
2kt

+ e )+ Q

kt

Which then factors into the following: Q( e2kt + ekt + 1) We once again multiply this by e^(-k) to get the next expression: Q(e3kt + e2kt + ekt ) Hopefully you've noticed a pattern by now. What we have is an amount Q multiplied by the sum of sequentially smaller numbers. Remember that a negative exponent on a term means the following: ekt = 1 e kt

as constant in the exponent gets greater in the denominator, the evaluation of the expression is going to asymptotically approach zero at some rate depending on the numeric value of k. So if we have the following progression:
e +e
kt 2kt

+e

3kt

...+ e

nkt

I want to know how to write this in sigma notation (to save me the hassle of typing n terms if I want to express the nth residual). Using sigma notation, we can write the following:

e nkt =e kt + e2kt + e3kt ...+ enkt

n=1

The initial amount on the nth interval can be written as follows: Q( enkt+ 1)
n=1 n1

because we saw the pattern that Q was being multiplied by the sum from e^-kt to e^-(n-1)kt and 1. We then can express the residual as e^-kt multiplied through the sum above, which will increment the exponent of each term, and 1 X e^-kt is e^-kt by the identity property of multiplication. Therefore, the nth residual can be written as follows: Q( enkt )=Rn
n=1 n

Where the numeric value of the sum is asymptotically approaching an expression which I will need to define in the next part. Part B) In order to approach this part, you need to understand the sum of infinite geometric series. A geometric series is any series of terms that have a constant ratio between each term (denoted r): 2, 4, 8, 16,32, 64 r = 2 , because the quotient of any term n and (n-1) is 2. 64/32 = 2, 32/16 = 2, etc. Therefore, any term 'n' in the sequence can be expressed as the first term times the common ratio raised to the power of (n1) :
a n=a 1r
(n1)

because the first term when n=1 will make r =1, making the expression = the first term

The sum from the first term to the nth term of a geometric series is as follows:

a1 r
n=1

(n1)

(1r ) =a1 (1r )

If you don't fully understand this, you may want to look it up. R is the common ratio of each term and n is the term you want to sum to from a1, the first term. We can find any residual this way, because our sum of e^-kt + e^-2kt e^-nkt is the sum of a geometric series, with the common ratio being e^-kt. For example: R15=Q enkt Qekt (1e ) (1ekt )
n=1 nkt 15

This sum formula was used to derive the following formula, for infinite geometric series:
a1 = a 1 r (n1 ) (1r ) n=1

Contextualized for our problem: ekt (1ekt ) This is the greatest possible sum. Multiplying by Q will give us the limit of R. R = Qekt (1e kt )

Knowing this means we can move forward. Part C)

The problem states that there is some level of effectiveness L in terms of the amount (ie:the residual at some time) and a toxic level H that the concentration cannot exceed. This means that the residual after any elapsed time is bounded by L and H, where it should be greater than or equal to L and less than H

at all times. LQe

kt

( 1enkt ) <H (1ekt )

solving for n, the amount of time intervals that have passed, will give you the range of times that the medication will be both effective and safe. (ln (( L (1ekt ) (1e kt ) 1))) (ln((H 1))) (Qekt ) (Qekt ) n< k k

I am having constant problems with this portion because the problem states that the time schedule should depend on k and q, but I seem to have an extraneous t variable, representing the amount of time that has passed.

Part D) Q = 200mg , 50% of the residual at t=6 is the given information. From this we can derive the decay parameter k.
100=200 e
k

(1e6k ) k (1e )

The first step is to solve for the decay parameter k.

I'm stumped. Sorry team.