Question

Cindy did an experiment. She started out with 600 bacteria cells. She found that the growth rate of the bacteria cells was 4.1%. Create an equation for the situation that would work for any time, x.

Pls Help thx

Answer 1

Answer: P(t) = 600*(1.041)^t.

Explanation:

An exponential growth can be written as:

P(t) = A*(1 + r)^t

Where:

A = initial population = 600

r = rate of growth in decimals = 4.1%/100% = 0.041.

t = number of units of time.

Now we have a problem, we know that the growth rate is 4.1 %, but we do not know in which time units are we working.

Because is not the same if the bacteria grows a 4.1% in one day, than if the bacteria grows a 4.1% in a hour.

But that does not matter for the actual equation, because we can just define "t" as the time (like the question asks) and the equation will be:

P(t) = 600*(1 + 0.041)^t

P(t) = 600*(1.041)^t.