Cardiac Output (QT) equals

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Cardiac Output (QT) equals

Cardiac output is the volume of blood the heart pumps each minute. It depends on two things: how much blood is ejected with each beat (stroke volume) and how many beats occur each minute (heart rate). Multiply them together: CO = SV × HR. This makes sense because each beat pushes out a certain amount, and the number of beats per minute scales that total to a per-minute rate. The units line up as milliliters per beat times beats per minute equals milliliters per minute. Dividing stroke volume by heart rate would give an inverse relation with mismatched units, and adding or subtracting them doesn’t produce a rate of flow either—so the product form is the correct representation.

Cardiac output is the volume of blood the heart pumps each minute. It depends on two things: how much blood is ejected with each beat (stroke volume) and how many beats occur each minute (heart rate). Multiply them together: CO = SV × HR. This makes sense because each beat pushes out a certain amount, and the number of beats per minute scales that total to a per-minute rate. The units line up as milliliters per beat times beats per minute equals milliliters per minute.

Dividing stroke volume by heart rate would give an inverse relation with mismatched units, and adding or subtracting them doesn’t produce a rate of flow either—so the product form is the correct representation.

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