Final answer:
To find the height of the bean plant yesterday, we can use the given information about its growth rate and current height. By setting up an equation and using the power rule, we can solve for the height of the plant after 9 days, which would be its height yesterday.
Step-by-step explanation:
To determine how tall the bean plant was yesterday, we need to find the height of the plant after 9 days, since today is the 10th day. Since the plant grows 15% of its height each day, we can calculate the height of the plant after 9 days by multiplying the height on day 1 by (1 + 0.15) raised to the power of 9. Let's assume the height of the plant on day 1 is h. Therefore, the height of the plant after 9 days is h x (1 + 0.15)^9.
Given that the height of the plant after 10 days is 27 inches, we can set up the equation:
h x (1 + 0.15)^9 = 27
Now we can solve for h:
h = 27 / (1 + 0.15)^9
Using a calculator, we can find that h ≈ 12.014 inches. Therefore, the height of the plant yesterday was approximately 12.014 inches.