Question

The doubling time of a population of flies is 4 hours. By what factor does the population increase in 24 hours

Answer 1

let's say the initial population is "a" amount of flies, so then


`\bf \begin{array}{llll} \stackrel{passed}{hours}&amount\\ ---&--------\\ 0&a\\ 4&2a\\ 8&2(2a)\\ 12&2(2\cdot 2a)\\ 16&2(2\cdot 2\cdot 2a)\\ 20&2(2\cdot 2\cdot 2\cdot 2a)\\ 24&2(2\cdot 2\cdot 2\cdot 2\cdot 2\cdot 2a)\\ &2^6\cdot a \end{array}`

notice, the population has grown by to 2⁶ of the original amount.