Here's some sample code that calculates the half-life of a radioactive isotope using matlab
:
main.m411 chars15 lines
In this code, we first define the decay constant lambda
and initial amount N0
of the isotope. We then define a time range t
over which to calculate the corresponding amounts of the isotope (using the exponential decay equation).
Next, we find the time (in t
) at which the amount of the isotope has halved by finding the minimum absolute difference between the calculated amounts (Nt
) and half the initial amount (N0/2
). Finally, we output the calculated half-life.
gistlibby LogSnag