Answer:
The number of hours it takes the culture to reach 12,000 bacteria is 41 hours.
Step-by-step explanation:
To predict the number of hours it takes to culture a certain number of bacteria form a regression equation of number of hours (y) based on the number of bacteria (x) using the provided data.
The general form of the regression equation is:
Compute the values of a and b as follows:

*Use the Excel data sheet attached.
The regression equation of number of hours based on the number of bacteria is:

Compute the number of hours it takes the culture to reach 12,000 bacteria as follows:


Thus, the number of hours it takes the culture to reach 12,000 bacteria is 41 hours.