Question

The population of bacteria in a certain culture can be modeled by the function P(t)=10000(1.03)^t. Is the population of bacteria increasing or decreasing? Explain

Answer 1

Increasing

Explanation:

If the number in the parenthesis is larger 1 or larger than it is increasing, but if it is less than one, it's decreasing. This is greater than one.

Answer 2

The population of bacteria is increasing.

Explanation:

The function modelling the population of bacteria in the given culture is an exponential function; We have a base 1.03 and an exponent t. An exponential function is said to be increasing if the base is strictly greater than 1, this implies that the population of the bacteria is increasing as t increases from 0 to infinity.