We saw in the slides from the last activity that the Canadian Diabetes Association has reported that 57% of Canadians with diabetes say they do not take their diabetes drugs the way they were prescribed because they cannot afford their medications, devices, and supplies.

The Canadian Diabetes Association wants a pharmacare program to ensure that people with diabetes get access to their needed medications. A pharmacare program helps to cover the costs of eligible prescription drugs, and certain medical supplies and pharmacy services.

How much medicine do diabetics need to take, and how much does it cost?

Proportional Reasoning: A Refresher

What is Proportional Reasoning?

Proportional reasoning involves thinking about relationships between quantities. When dealing with real-world applications, you often need to compare different quantities:

• When you consider which pair of jeans is a better buy;
• When you change a recipe from being for four people to being for two people;
• When we decide which Olympic runner had the fastest start;
• When a doctor asks your weight before writing a prescription for your medication;
• When you figure out how many calories are in the portion you just ate.

All these are examples of reasoning proportionally.

Reasoning proportionally involves thinking in terms of ratios (meters per second, cost per item, mL per mixture). A ratio compares two quantities of the same unit.

This video and interactive available at LearnAlberta.ca will help you develop a better understanding of ratios and how they apply to photography.

As you watch the video and complete the interactive activity, record some thoughts in your notebook about how rate, ratio, and proportion are used in photography.

Proportional Reasoning and Medication

Because Am has type 1 diabetes, he will have to take insulin to control his diabetes for the rest of his life. Am’s doctor has recommended that he use an insulin pen to take his insulin injections.

He was told that, under normal circumstances, he will have to take 16 units of insulin per day. He has to inject insulin four times each day.

Questions

How many units of insulin will each injection contain?
a. 1/4 of a unit
b. 0.25 of a unit
c. 4 units
d. 8 units
Answer

The pen that Am will be using contains 300 units of insulin. Am is thinking about cost. Given that he will use 16 units per day, how long will his insulin pen last?
a. 0.05 days
b. 18 days
c. 18.75 days
d. 4800 days
Answer

The pen that Am is going to use contains 3 mL (300 units) of insulin. How much insulin is Am taking with each injection (in mL)?
a. 0.004 mL
b. 0.04 mL
c. 0.4 mL
d. 4 mL
Answer

Proportional Reasoning to Determine Cost of Medication

Insulin pens can be disposable or reuseable.

Reusable pens are less expensive than disposable pens.

Reusable pens use insulin refill cartridges. (Each cartridge holds 3mL of insulin.)

Refill cartridges are usually sold in boxes of five.

A box of insulin cartridges costs about $120.00.

Question

How much will Am’s insulin cost each month? Remember, you found that the 3 mL pen of insulin will last 18 days.

Answer