This theory arises from the need to derive activity coefficients of solutes when their concentrations are too high to be predicted accurately by the Debye–Hückel theory. Activity coefficients are needed because an equilibrium constant is defined in chemical thermodynamics as the ratio of activities but is usually measured using concentrations. The protonation of a monobasic acid will be used to simplify the presentation. The equilibrium for protonation of the conjugate base, A of the acid HA, may be written as: