document.write( "Question 1199250: The half-life of a radioactive substance is one hundred twenty-five days. How many days will it take for eighty-two percent of the substance to decay?\r
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document.write( "A. 180
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document.write( "B. 367
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document.write( "C. 275
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document.write( "D. 310
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document.write( "E. 532
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document.write( "F. 426 \n" );
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Algebra.Com's Answer #833033 by Theo(13342)![]() ![]() You can put this solution on YOUR website! half life is 125 days. \n" ); document.write( "formula becomes .5 = g ^ 125 \n" ); document.write( "g is the growth rate per day. \n" ); document.write( "take the 125th root of both sides of the equation to get: \n" ); document.write( ".5 ^ (1/125) = g \n" ); document.write( "solve for g to get: \n" ); document.write( "g = .9944701687 \n" ); document.write( "that's the daily growth rate. \n" ); document.write( "if the radioactive substance starts at 1 and you want 82% to decay, then the remainder would be 1 - .82 * 1 = .18. \n" ); document.write( "the formula decays from 1 to .18 in x days. \n" ); document.write( "the formula becomes .18 = 1 * .9944701687 ^ x \n" ); document.write( "simplify to get .18 = .9944701687 ^ x \n" ); document.write( "take the log of both sides of the equation to get: \n" ); document.write( "log(.18) = log(.9944701687 ^ x) \n" ); document.write( "this becomes log(.18) = x * log(.9944701687) \n" ); document.write( "solve for x to get: \n" ); document.write( "x = log(.18) / log(.9944701687) = 309.2413985 days. \n" ); document.write( "that's pretty close to 310, so selection D should be your answer.\r \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " |