16Hit1600
Advanced MathVery hardTime for repeated halving

Advanced Math practice question

A medicine's concentration in the blood halves every 4 hours. If the concentration is 16 units at noon, at what time will it first be 2 units? Give the answer as the number of hours after noon.

Answer: 12

16 → 8 → 4 → 2 is three halvings, or 12 hours.

Common wrong answers

If you answered 4
4 is one halving.
If you answered 8
8 is two halvings, reaching 4 units.
If you answered 14
14 subtracts 2 from 16 as though the drop were the number of hours.

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