Question

88. A scientist is studying the growth of a population of bacteria. At the beginning of her study, she has 800 bacteria. She notices that the population is quadrupling every hour.

b. Write an explicit formula for the number of bacteria present after t hours.

Answer 1

`p(t)=800(4^(t))`

Explanation:

The initial population of bacteria is 800 and we know that this number is quadrupling every hour.

We're going to find a function p in terms of t (time) that gives us the population of bacteria at that time. (t is in hours)

This kind of formulas are written as (initial population)(growth radio)^time

Since the population is quadrupling every hour the function in terms of t (where t is expressed in hours) would be:

`p(t)=800(4^(t))`