Question

A certain type of cell doubles every hour. If you start with one cell, at the end of one hour you have 2 cells. How many cells you would have after five hours? Write this expression in exponential form, then evaluate it.

Answer 1

To calculate the number of cells after five hours of doubling every hour, you use the formula 2^n, which gives us 2^5 = 32 cells. This is an example of exponential growth.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine how many cells one would have after five hours, given that a certain type of cell doubles every hour, we use exponential growth. The number of cells after n hours can be expressed in exponential form as 2^n. Therefore, to find the total number of cells after five hours, we evaluate 2^5.

Calculating this, we have:

1. After 1 hour: 2^1 = 2 cells
2. After 2 hours: 2^2 = 4 cells
3. After 3 hours: 2^3 = 8 cells
4. After 4 hours: 2^4 = 16 cells
5. After 5 hours: 2^5 = 32 cells

So, at the end of five hours, you would have 32 cells. This illustrates the concept of exponential growth, where each hour you multiply the number of cells by 2, as seen in the pattern of doubling.