Question

Kristen is a microbiologist studying a certain type of bacteria. For an experiment, she counted 12 bacteria cells on a petri dish to start. One hour later, Kristen counted 30 cells, and she expects that the number of bacteria cells will continue to grow each hour. Write an exponential equation in the form y=a(b)x that can model the number of bacteria cells, y, x hours after starting the experiment.

Answer 1

Explanation:

I am sure you meant

y = a(b)^x

"a" is the starting value. in our case that is 12.

as x is the number of hours after starting the experiment, x = 1 in our case for having 30 cells.

so, we have

30 = 12×(b)^1 = 12b

b = 30/12 = 5/2

our equation is therefore

y = 12×(5/2)^x