Math problem growth

Question

A cell divides in 2 every 20 minutes (doubles every 20 mins). How many cells will be there in 24hrs?

Answer 1

first you can find the total number of minutes in 24 hours

24 hours x 60 minutes/hour = 1440 minutes

then divide by the minutes/cycle to determine the number of times that it will double

number of doubling cycles = 1440 minutes / (20 minutes/cycle) = 72 cycles

that means that the final number of cells is

N = 2^(72), which is over 4.7 quintillion cells

Answer 2

If the cell doubles every 20minutes it will double 3 times in an hour and therefore 72 times in 24 hours

So the number of cells will be 2^72