Question

Harriet is cultivating a strain of bacteria in a petri dish. Currently, she has 103 bacteria in the dish. The bacteria divide every two hours such that the number of bacteria has doubled by the end of every second hour. How many bacteria will Harriet have in the dish at the end of 6 hours?

A.
1024
B.
103
6
C.
603
D.
103
8

Answer 1

Explanation:

Since the number of bacteria in the petri dish doubles every two hours, after 2 hours, Harriet will have 103 x 2 = 206 bacteria.

After another 2 hours (i.e., 4 hours from the beginning), the number of bacteria will double again to become 206 x 2 = 412 bacteria.

After another 2 hours (i.e., 6 hours from the beginning), the number of bacteria will double once more to become 412 x 2 = 824 bacteria.

Therefore, Harriet will have 824 bacteria in the dish at the end of 6 hours. Answer: A. 1024 (rounded to the nearest whole number).