ABSTRACT
Pharmacokinetics is the discipline of science that is concerned with the study of the rate and extent of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion. Understanding the characteristics and the mechanisms of these processes allows writing mathematical expressions that describe the drug prole in the body. Characterization of the drug concentration-time prole is important because it is usually related to the time course of the therapeutic effect of the drugs. Understanding the basic mathematic principles that are used frequently in pharmacokinetics can be very useful in grasping the basic pharmacokinetic concepts. This can help in understanding how the mathematical expressions that describe the different pharmacokinetic processes are derived. Also, comprehending the basic mathematical principles can assist in understanding the interplay between the different pharmacokinetic parameters. Furthermore, knowing the basic mathematical principles allows the correct utilization of the pharmacokinetic equations to predict the drug pharmacokinetic behavior in the body. This is in addition to application of the proper pharmacokinetic data analysis techniques in research and clinical practice. This chapter reviews the basic mathematical principles that are commonly used in pharmacokinetics such as exponents, logarithms, graphs, and curve tting.
