Question

Every second, a colony of viruses quadruples its number. At a particular time, the number of viruses amounts to 655,360

How many viruses were there in the previous second?

Answer 1

If the colony of viruses quadruples its number every second, then the number of viruses in the previous second must have been one-fourth of the number of viruses at the particular time when the number was 655,360.

We can find the number of viruses in the previous second by dividing 655,360 by 4:

655,360 ÷ 4 = 163,840

Therefore, there were 163,840 viruses in the previous second.