Radio-active decay problem.

**tactical** · February 9th 2010, 04:25 PM

I have the following equation.

$N/6= N*exp(-.0001216t)$

Then I want to solve to t, and the solution is $ln(6)/.00001216$

I must be missing something....why is $ln(6)$ and not $ln(1/6)$ ?

**dedust** · February 9th 2010, 04:30 PM

Originally Posted by tactical

I have the following equation.

$N/6= N*exp(-.0001216t)$

Then I want to solve to t, and the solution is $ln(6)/.00001216$

I must be missing something....why is $ln(6)$ and not $ln(1/6)$ ?

$N/6= N*exp(-.0001216t)$

$1/6= exp(-.0001216t)$

$6= exp(0.0001216t)$

$\ln 6= (0.0001216t)$

$t = \frac{\ln 6}{0.0001216}$

**HallsofIvy** · February 10th 2010, 02:12 AM

Originally Posted by tactical

I have the following equation.

$N/6= N*exp(-.0001216t)$

Then I want to solve to t, and the solution is $ln(6)/.00001216$

I must be missing something....why is $ln(6)$ and not $ln(1/6)$ ?

You could also write the answer as t= ln(1/6)/(-.0001216). Now ln(1/6)= -ln(6).

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