Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below 
I would have emailed my professor about this had I not procrastinated and waited until Sunday night to look at this problem:
There is a protein made up of 13 different amino acids, only one which is Argenine. The question states that a chemical process to sequence the amino acids in a protein is dependent on the efficiency of each cycle of the sequencing reaction. So, suppose the reaction is only 95% efficient at each cycle. What is the percentage of Argenine in the solution after the 6th cycle of the reaction?
The answer says that it's (0.95)^6 x 100 = 77%
I understand that you take 95%, convert it to decimal form, and because the cycle occurs 6 times, take it to the 6th power. But what I don't understand is that the fact that the original protein is comprised of 1/13th Argenine doesn't come into play at all.
I am not holding my breath, but is there someone who can explain this mathematical conundrum to me?
There is a protein made up of 13 different amino acids, only one which is Argenine. The question states that a chemical process to sequence the amino acids in a protein is dependent on the efficiency of each cycle of the sequencing reaction. So, suppose the reaction is only 95% efficient at each cycle. What is the percentage of Argenine in the solution after the 6th cycle of the reaction?
The answer says that it's (0.95)^6 x 100 = 77%
I understand that you take 95%, convert it to decimal form, and because the cycle occurs 6 times, take it to the 6th power. But what I don't understand is that the fact that the original protein is comprised of 1/13th Argenine doesn't come into play at all.
I am not holding my breath, but is there someone who can explain this mathematical conundrum to me?
