Question

A study is done on the number of bacteria cells in a petri dish. Suppose that the population size P(1) after t hours is given by the following exponential function.P (1) = 2000(1.09)Find the initial population size.Does the function represent growth or decay?By what percent does the population size change each hour?

Answer 1

Given:

the population size P(1) after t hours is given by the following exponential function:

`P(1)=2000(1.09)`

Find the initial population size?

The initial size = 2000

Does the function represent growth or decay?

Growth, Because the initial value multiplied by a factor > 1

By what percent does the population size change each hour?

The factor of change = 1.09 - 1 = 0.09

So, the bacteria is increasing by a factor of 9% each hour