Question

You have an ant farm with 31 ants. The population of ants in your farm will double every 3 months. The table shows the population growth of the ants over nine months. Decide whether the table represents a linear function or a nonlinear function. After one​ year, how many ants will there be in the ant​ farm?

Answer 1

496 ants 4 that year according to my sister

Answer 2

There will be 496 ants after a year.

Explanation:

First, we need to create an equation. The equation in this case will be y = 31(2)^x/3. 31 is the initial amount, 2 represents that it is doubling, and x is how many total months there are. The x, in this case, will be 12, as there are 12 months in a year. Then, we do 12/3, because it is doubling every three months, which equals 4, signifying that the population will double 4 times over a year. We can then plug in 4 to the exponent place, then solve the equation. 2^4 is equal to 16, so we then multiply 31 by 16, getting us our final answer, 496 ants.