PHARMACY
MATH
YOU CAN BE AN ALL-STAR MATHLETE
Many students have a giant fear of math. There
are numerous would be pharmacy technicians that
decided the job wasn’t for them because of the fact
that math is a required skill. No need to panic if
you think this might be you – just work the
concepts slowly and often.
Let’s starts with the measurements commonly
seen in a pharmacy.
Liquids:
Unit Measurement
1 mL 20 gtts (drops)
YOUR FRIEND THE CALCULATOR
1 tsp 5 mL
. 1 tbsp 15 mL
1 oz 30 mL
After memorizing the tables on the right 1 liter 1000 mL
1 cup 8 oz
(flash cards!) – Work on manipulating 1 pint 480 mL
the numbers. 2 pints 1 quart
1 gallon 8 pints
How many mL are in 8 oz? [Link]
Solids:
How many mL are in 2 cups?
Unit Measurement
o Same thing? 1 gram (g) 1000 mg
o Numerous ways to say the 1 mg 1000 mcg
1 kilogram (kg) 1000 g
same thing 1 kg 2.2 Lbs
1 grain (gr) 65 or 60 mg
Watch out on the exam for that kind of ss grain 30 mg
trickery. They will give you the
information, but sometimes you may
need to convert it to another unit.
Become a Pharmacy Technician Twitter: @pharmtechcourse Steven Pettit Pharm. D.
