Arba Minch university

College of Health Sciences

Dep’t of Pharmacy
Pharmaceutics Course Team

Pharmaceutical Calculation
By: Tsegaye N. (B. Pharm, MSc)

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I. Introduction to Pharmaceutical
Calculation

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Learning Objectives
After completing of this chapter, students will be able to define;
 pharmaceutical calculation
 Sensitivity, Significant Figures, Accuracy and Percentage of
Errors
 Determine advantages of studying pharmaceutical calculation,
density, specific gravity, and specific volume using
appropriate calculations
 Explain how to measure volume and weight of pharmaceutical
preparation.
Explain the meaning of Roman Numerals and Arabic Numerals
Convert Roman Numerals to Arabic Numerals
Convert Arabic Numerals to Roman Numerals
Describe the procedure for rounding decimals

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Intro…
Definition:
Pharmacy- the art and science of preparing and dispensing
drugs and medicines.
Drugs are substances that cause a change in a person’s physical
and/or psychological state.
Pharmaceutics is the discipline of pharmacy that deals with the
process of turning a new chemical entity into a medication to be
used safely and effectively by patients.
Pharmaceutics deals with the formulation of a pure drug
substance into a dosage form.
 So, it is called science of dosage form design.

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Intro…
 Dosage forms are the means by which drug molecules are
delivered to sites of action within the body.
 Calculation is determining something by mathematical or
logical methods.
 Pharmaceutical calculation is the area of study that applies
the basic principles of mathematics to
 Preparation and safe and effective use of pharmaceuticals.

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Advantage of studying pharmaceutical
calculation
 Pharmaceutical calculations are essential to the practice of
pharmacy within operational and research areas in
Industry,
Academia, and
Government
 Pharmaceutical calculations use in computation related to;
chemical and physical properties of drug substances and
pharmaceutical ingredients
pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics properties;
statistical data from basic research and clinical drug
studies;
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Cont…
 pharmaceutical product development and formulation
 Filling prescriptions and medication orders; and etc.

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A step-wise approach toward pharmaceutical
calculations
 Success in performing pharmaceutical calculations is based on
the following steps:
1. An understanding of the purpose or goal of the problem;
2. An assessment of the arithmetic process required to reach
the goal;
3. Implementation of the correct arithmetic manipulations.

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1.1.Pharmaceutical Measurement

 Pharmaceutical measurement is an important part of

pharmacy practice; i.e.
 Accurately weigh,
 Measure volume, and
 Combine individual pharmaceutical components.
 It is employed in;
 Community and institutional pharmacies,
 Pharmaceutical research,
 Development and manufacture of pharmaceuticals,
 Chemical and product analysis, and in quality control.

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Pre request mathematical review
A. Numbers and numerals
1.Number
 a total quantity or amount.
 used to count, label, and measure
 It includes numbers like:
 Natural(N) = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, ... or 1, 2, 3, 4, ...
 Integers(Z) = ..., −5, −4, −3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ...
 Rational(Q) = a/b where a and b are integers and b ≠ 0
 Real (R) = include all of the measuring numbers, and etc .

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Cont…
Numbers can be presented in concrete or abstract form.
1.Abstract (pure)number
A number by itself without application to anything.
E.g., 2, 4, 3, etc.
2.Concrete numbers
A number that designates a quantity of objects by units of
measurement.
E.g., 4mg, 7mL, …

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Cont…
2.Numerals
 a word, sign or group of words or signs representing a number.
 Types;
1.Arabic numerals
numeral system in use today based on the ten digits.
Commonly used universally to indicate quantities because of
it is easy to read and not confusing.
Represented by zero and nine digits(1-9)
0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

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Cont…
2.Roman numerals
 numeral system based in ancient Rome that uses letters and
combinations of letters used to designate numbers.
 Eight(8) letters of alphabets (either lowercase or uppercase)
used
 not used in computation but merely used for counting.

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Cont… Cont’d…
Roman numerals Arabic numerals
ss 1/2
I(i) 1
V(v) 5
X(x) 10
L(l) 50
C(c) 100
D(d) 500
M(m) 1000
NB. ‘ss’ used with lowercase to represent ‘half’.

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Cont… Cont’d…
 Rules to use Roman numerals
A. When roman numeral is
repeated, doubles its value.
E.g., xx = 10+10 =20
repeated three times, triple its value.
E.g., xxx =3 x10 =30
B. When roman numeral(s) of lesser value follows one of greater
value, they are added.
E.g., xvi =10+5+1 = 16
C, When roman numeral(s) of lesser value precedes one of
greater value, they are subtracted from the greater value
numeral.
E.g., ix =10-1=9
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Cont…

D, When roman numeral of lesser value is placed between two

greater values, it is first subtracted from greater numeral after
it.
E.g., CLXIV = 100+50+10+(5-1)
= 164
E, Roman numeral should not be repeated more than three times
in succession rather largest value should be used.
E.g. not as ’vvvv’ rather ‘xx’ to represent ‘20’.
Use ‘IV’ to represent 4 than ‘IIII’.

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Cont… Cont’d…

A. Converting Arabic numerals to Roman numerals

Example: Convert 1984 to Roman Numerals.
Soln; 1984 =1000 + 900 + 80 + 4
= M + CM + LXXX + IV
So,1984 = MCMLXXXIV
Example: convert 2098 to Roman Numerals.
Soln; 2098 = 1000 + 1000 + 90 + 8
= m + m + xc + viii
= mmxcviii

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Cont… Cont’d…

B.Converting Roman numerals to Arabic numerals

E.g. Convert DCCC to Arabic Numerals.
Soln;
DCC = 500 + 100 + 100
= 800
E.g. Convert LXVII to Arabic Numerals.
Soln;
LXVII = 50 + 10 + 5 + 2
= 67

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 B. Balance sensitivity, Significant Figures, Accuracy
and Percentage of Errors

 Instrument manufacturers usually supply specifications for

their equipment that define its accuracy, precision and
sensitivity
1. Accuracy
How close a measured value is to the actual (true) standard value.
2. Precision
 It is how close the measured values are to each others.
 E.g. if the weight of the tablet measured many times and the values are
close together; then, it has a high degree of precision or repeatability.
 The values do not have to be the true value rather just grouped
together
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Cont… Cont’d…

3. Sensitivity
The smallest absolute amount of change that can be detected
by a measurement.
A balance is said to be sensitive when it can register small
differences in weight.

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Cont… Cont’d…

4. Percentage of error
Measuring instruments are not exact!
When a pharmacist measures a volume of liquid or weight of
a material, two quantities become important:
(1) the apparent(desired) weight or volume measured, and
(2) the possible excess or deficiency in the actual quantity
obtained.
So, to recognize the limitations of the instruments used and
the magnitude of the errors; you can use percentage error.

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 Cont’d…
Cont…
Percentage of error
 show the error as a percent of the exact value
 is all about comparing a guess or estimate to an exact
value.
 the maximum potential error multiplied by 100 and
divided by the quantity desired. Formulated as follows:
Percentage of error
= |Approximate Value - Exact Value| × 100%
|Exact Value|
= | Error | * 100%
Quantity desired

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Cont…
For example,
 Prescription calls for 800 mg of a substance. After weighing
this amount on a balance, the pharmacist decides to check by
weighing it again on a more sensitive balance, which registers
only 750 milligrams.
 Because the first weighing was 50 milligrams short of the
desired amount, what was the percentage of error?

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Cont…
Solution;
Given;
quantity desired = 800mg,
Error = |750mg-800mg| = 50mg
Answer;
percentage of error = 50 mg x 100%
800 mg
6.25%

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Cont… Cont’d…

5.Significant figures
 All measurements are approximations—no measuring device
can give perfect measurements without experimental
uncertainty.
 When we record a measurement the last figure to the right must
be taken to be an approximation.

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Cont… Cont’d…
E.g.
The number 573.4grams interpreted
as
5 = 500 grams neither more or less
7 = 70 grams neither more or less
3 = 3 grams neither more or less
but the final 4 means approximately
0.4grams (plus or minus some
fraction of a gram).

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Cont… Cont’d…

 Significant figures are consecutive figures that express the

value of a denominate number accurately enough for a given
purpose.
 Simply the number of figures that are known with some
degree of reliability.
 The number of significant figures indicates the degree of
accuracy that is sufficient for a given purpose.
 The accuracy varies with the number of significant figures;
which are all absolute in value except the last figure to the
right must be taken to be an approximation, and this is
properly called uncertain.

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Cont…
 The interpretation of zero
 Whether zero is significant, however, depends on its position.
1, Digits(0-9) other than zero are significant.
 E.g. 12.5g has 3 significant figure.
2, Zeros appearing any where between digits is significant.
E.g.
 102.56 mL has 5 significant figure.
 8.0054g has 5 significant figure

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Cont…
3, Trailing zeros after a decimal point are always
significant; b/c, it contributes to the value of the
number.
 E.g. a, 0.06050 has 4 significant figure.
b, 998.100 has six significant figure
 The significance of trailing zeros in a number not
containing a decimal point or before a decimal point can
be ambiguous. E.g.
 The number of significant figures in number like
50,600 calories may be 3, 4 or 5(uncertain).
 b/c one doesn’t know whether these zeros are meant to be
significant or simply to indicate the magnitude of the number.
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Cont…
 The potential ambiguity in the significance of trailing zeros
can be avoided by the use of standard exponential or scientific
notation.
 For example, depending on whether the number of
significant figures is 3, 4, or 5, we would write 50,600
calories as:
5.06 × 104 calories (3 significant figures)
5.060 × 104 calories (4 significant figures), or
5.0600 × 104 calories (5 significant figures).
5, Zeros used only to show the location of the decimal point i.e.
zeros before the first non-zero digit(leading zeros) are not
significant.
E.g.
0.005=1 significant figure. 30
Rounding and Rules for rounding a
measurement
Rounding decimals : -
 a process to eliminate unnecessary decimal numbers
 used when an instrument hasn’t the capability to weigh
precisely all the quantities.

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Cont…
Rules for rounding measurement
a) When rounding a measurement, retain as many figures as will
give only one uncertain figure.
b) When eliminating superfluous(excess) figures following a
calculation,
add 1 to the last figure retained in a calculation if it is 5 or
more.
 For example, 2.46 should be rounded off to 2.5 but, 2.43 should be
rounded off to 2.4

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Cont… Cont’d…
c) When rounding to given number of decimal places, count
only those places after the decimal point.
E.g. Round 34.1362 to two decimal places.
Answer. b/c of it has 4 decimal place and 6>5, round it to
= 34.14
d) When rounding to a given number of significant figures,
begin counting from the first non-zero digit.
E.g. round 34.13620 to 5 significant figure.
Answer. = 34.136

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Cont…
e) When multiplying or dividing two approximate numbers, retain
no more significant figures than the number having the fewest
significant figures.
For example, 0.049623 x 32.0 / 478.8 = 0.003316
answer may be rounded to 0.00332
f) In +/- approximate numbers, include only as many decimal
places as are in with the fewest decimal places.
E.g. 21.398 + 405 - 2.9 = 423.498
answer may be rounded to 423

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 Cont’d…
Cont…
g) When multiplying or dividing an approximate number by an
absolute number, the result should be rounded to the same
number of significant figures as in the approximate number.
 For example,
1.54 mg x 96= 243.84 mg;
Answer may be rounded to 244 mg, or to three
significant figures.

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