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Raymond works for a pharmaceutical company that is testing the effectiveness of a new medication. He gave one of the study participants 400400 milligrams of the medication, and he knows the amount remaining in the participant's body will decrease by a factor of 1/31/3 each hour.\newlineWrite an exponential equation in the form y=a(b)xy = a(b)^x that can model the amount of medication, yy, remaining in the participant's body after xx hours.\newlineUse whole numbers, decimals, or simplified fractions for the values of aa and bb.\newliney=y = ______\newline

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Q. Raymond works for a pharmaceutical company that is testing the effectiveness of a new medication. He gave one of the study participants 400400 milligrams of the medication, and he knows the amount remaining in the participant's body will decrease by a factor of 1/31/3 each hour.\newlineWrite an exponential equation in the form y=a(b)xy = a(b)^x that can model the amount of medication, yy, remaining in the participant's body after xx hours.\newlineUse whole numbers, decimals, or simplified fractions for the values of aa and bb.\newliney=y = ______\newline
  1. Identify Initial Amount: Identify the initial amount of medication given to the participant. The initial amount of medication aa is the starting quantity before any decrease occurs. a=400a = 400 milligrams
  2. Determine Decay Factor: Determine the decay factor bb. Since the medication decreases by a factor of 13\frac{1}{3} each hour, the remaining amount is 23\frac{2}{3} of the previous amount each hour (because 113=231 - \frac{1}{3} = \frac{2}{3}). Therefore, the decay factor bb is 23\frac{2}{3}.
  3. Write Decay Equation: Write the exponential decay equation.\newlineThe general form of an exponential decay equation is y=a(b)xy = a(b)^x.\newlineSubstitute the values of aa and bb into the equation.\newlinea=400a = 400\newlineb=23b = \frac{2}{3}\newlineSo, the equation is y=400(23)xy = 400\left(\frac{2}{3}\right)^x.

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