Question

A culture of bacteria has an initial population of 74000 bacteria and doubles every 3 hours. What is the population of bacteria in the culture after 13 hours, to the nearest whole number?

Answer 1

After 13 hours the population of bacteria in the culture is approximately 5,905,820, rounded to the nearest whole number.

we can use the formula for exponential growth

P = P0 * 2^(t/k)

Where:

P = population at time t

P0 = initial population = 74000

t = time = 13 hours

k = time for population to double = 3 hours

Plugging in the values:

P = 74000 * 2^(13/3)

P = 74000 * 2^4.33

P = 74000 * 79.83

P = 5905820