Question

Heritage High School is currently experiencing the spread of chickenpox. The outbreak started with three infected individuals. However, each day, the number of people infected doubles. How many people will be infected on Day 9 of the outbreak?

1. 1534 people will be infected on Day 9 of the outbreak.
2. 8 people will be infected on Day 9 of the outbreak.
3. 64 people will be infected on Day 9 of the outbreak.
4. 511 people will be infected on Day 9 of the outbreak.

Answer 1

Heritage High School will have 768 people infected on Day 9 of the chickenpox outbreak.

Step-by-step explanation:

In this scenario, the number of people infected with chickenpox doubles each day. We know that initially there were 3 infected individuals. On Day 2, there will be 3 x 2 = 6 infected individuals. On Day 3, there will be 6 x 2 = 12 infected individuals. This doubling pattern continues each day.

So, to find the number of people infected on Day 9, we need to multiply the initial number of infected individuals (3) by the doubling factor (2) raised to the power of the number of days (9-1).

Using the formula: Number of infected individuals on Day 9 = 3 x 2^(9-1) = 3 x 2^8 = 3 x 256 = 768 people will be infected on Day 9 of the outbreak.