I've been reviewing some medical documentation in preparation for school and I'm having some trouble understanding how to think of an equation in the paper The physiological basis of pulmonary gas exchange: implications for clinical interpretation of arterial blood gases. The equation is available below:
$$V'_{0_2} = V'_{E} * ( F_{IO_2} - F_{EO_2} ) $$
While the paragraphs before and after the equation describe each part of the equation, this particular algebra student (me) is being thrown through a loop (I haven't take chemistry yet either). The article seems to group this into a simple three term equation $x = (a (b-c))$. But as I look at it I see symbols such as $V'$ and the use of $O_2$ as a part of a term meant to be viewed as Oxygen and not as $O * 2$. So my question is am I right in how I'm viewing this? Is it really as simple as a three term equation? Also, is this common? And does the ' in $V'$ a common way of expressing something other than the volume that it's expressing in the paper?
Everything besides $V'$ and $F$ is a subscript. The prime can mean many things, but here it means time derivative. Notice the units for $V_E'$: it’s a rate of change in volume.