Monday, April 4, 2011

Area Under a Curve

What does "area under a curve" tells us?
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The area under the plasma (serum, or blood) concentration versus time curve (AUC) has an number of important uses in toxicology, biopharmaceutics and pharmacokinetics. Toxicology AUC can be used as a measure of drug exposure. It is derived from drug concentration and time so it gives a measure how much - how long a drug stays in a body.
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The work (W) done by a constant force (F) acting on a body by moving it through a distance (d) is given by: W = F × d
1) When the work is done by a CONSTANT FORCE AS IN: An ball about 1 N. If you lift the ball 1 m above a table, you have done approximately 1 Newton metre (Nm) of work.
2) Sometimes WORK is done by a Variable Force If the force varies (e.g. compressing a spring) we need to use calculus to find the work done. If the force is given by F(x) (a function of x) then the work done by the force along the x-axis from a to b is found by using INTEGRATION.
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