Question

A scientist runs an experiment involving a culture of bacteria. She notices that the mass of the bacteria in the culture increases exponentially with the mass increasing by 260% per week. What is the 1-week growth factor for the mass of the bacteria?

Answer 1

The growth factor for the mass of bacteria is 2.8 in 1 week.

Explanation:

Step 1:

It is given that the bacteria in the culture increase by 260% per week. Now we assign values to get a better understanding. If there were 1,000 bacteria in the culture at the start of the week there would be 1,000 + 260% at the week's end = 1,000 + 2,600 = 3,600 at the week's end.

Step 2:

To calculate the growth factor, we calculate the difference between the present value and the past value and divide it by the past value.

Here the past value is 1,000 and the present value is 2,600.

Growth factor =
`(difference in values)/(past value) = (3,600-1,000)/(1000) = (2,600)/(1,000) = 2.6.`

So the growth factor is 2.6 per week.