Question

A doctor can prescribe one of two drugs to treat a certain disease. Drug A will cure 75% of the cases but has unwanted side effects in 40% of the cases. Drug B will cure 50% of the cases and has unwanted side effects in 30% of cases. 60 patients are given drug A and 80 patients are given drug B. How many patients would you expect to experience unwanted side effects?

Answer 1

60 patients x 40 % = 24 and 80 patients x 30 % = 24. So 24 + 24 = 48

Answer 2

The total number of patients experienced unwanted side effects is 48

Explanation

60 patients are given drug A and drug A has unwanted side effects in 40% of the cases.

So, the number of patients experienced side effects for drug A = 40% of 60 $=(0.40*60)= 24$

Now 80 patients are given drug B and it has side effects in 30% of the cases.

So, the number of patients experienced side effects for drug B = 30% of 80 $=(0.30*80)= 24$

So, the total number of patients experienced unwanted side effects $= 24+24 =48$