calculating log

[Aaron57]

Happy Holidays to all the folks here !

Just received my first VL test taken after 4 weeks of Tx .
Would someone more math orientated than I please, double check and correct ?
Thank you in advance :)


I've been told there are 2 ways to do the log reduction calculation .

1 - remove the last digit from baseline and minus the current VL from BL

2- divide the latest test into baseline and move a decimal point to the left


Also I would like to know how to calculate the original baseline log if that is feasible without a scientific calculator ?


Baseline - 4.93 x 10 to the 6th power IU/ml = 4,930,000 IU/ml

Wk. 4 - 3.49 x 10 to the 5th power IU/ml = 349,000 IU/ml

Log reduction of 1.144 ?

Or, Log reduction of 1.4 ?

Any feedback on these results would be great !

[Aaron57]

Thank you for the words of encouragement  Bill !

And thank you very much for taking the time to give the detailed instructions on finding and using the scientific calculator ... I'm on a Mac , but to get there and use it is basically the same as a PC : )

1.15 log reduction

Still a long ways off from the 12 wk decision mark

[Bill1954]

You can approximate log reduction by removing a digit from the right, as you mentioned:

Baseline 1,000,000
-1 log     100,000
-2 log     10,000

If you have a PC, there should be a scientific calculator available:

From the start menu, click on ‘programs/all programs’

Click on ‘accessories’

Click on ‘calculator’

When the calculator opens, toggle the ‘scientific/standard’ button to scientific; this is found in the ‘view’ tab.

Then, enter your numeric viral load, and click the ‘LOG’ key; this is your viral load expressed in logarithm format.

Good luck with your treatment!

--Bill