The document discusses a damped mass-spring oscillator that loses 4% of its energy each cycle. The period is 2.0 seconds, the mass is 0.20 kg, and the initial amplitude is 0.30m. Using these values and the equation A(t)=Ae^(-bt/2m), the damping constant b is calculated to be 0.0124 kg/s. It also calculates that it would take approximately 6.54 cycles for the amplitude to reduce to 0.20m. Decreasing the damping constant would increase the number of cycles needed to reduce the amplitude as it weakens the drag force.