Don't get carried away with the exponent.
The exponent is not the number of years or the number of hours.
The exponent is the number of half-lifes.
In this one, the half-life is 12 hours, and they want to know
how much is left after 36 hours. 36 hours is 3 half-lifes.
The formula that you did is beautiful and almost perfect.
Just change that ugly exponent to the number of half-lifes (3)
and the answer will jump out at you.