Final answer:
To calculate the bacterial population size after t hours, use the exponential growth formula N = N0 * 2^(t*1.2) with N0 as the initial population, which is 4 in this case.
Step-by-step explanation:
The growth of a bacterial population through division is an example of exponential growth. Since the bacteria in question divide every 50 minutes, we first calculate the number of generations (doubling times) that occur in one hour by dividing 60 (minutes per hour) by 50 (division time in minutes), which gives us 1.2 generations per hour. To find the size of the bacteria population after t hours, we use the formula N = N0 * 2(t*1.2), where N is the final population size, N0 is the initial population size (which is 4), and t is the time in hours. By substituting the given values into the formula, we can find the population size at any specified point in time.