Question

Stephanie is collecting data on the reaction of bacteria to different antibodies. She did not measure the area of the bacteria in the dish when she began the experiment but measured 20 cm2 of bacteria after 1 hour. She continued to measure the bacteria each hour and entered the data in the table. show the explicit function. How much area would you predict the bacteria to have when measured during the 5th hour?

Answer 1

We take a look at the reduction in the area of the bacteria.

In the first hour, its arae is 20cm2. Following that, it reduces 1.25x, to 16. Then another 1.25x, from 16 to 12.8. And another 1.25x, from 12.8 to 10.24.

So, every hour, the bacteria's area reduces by 1.25x
Therefore, in the 5th hour (prediction probably if this is all a coincidence), the bacteria's area will be : 10.24 : 1.25 = 8.192 cm2.