im a bit confused on how to start precalculus

Question

A bacteria culture initially contains 2500 bacteria and doubles every half hour.

Find the size of the baterial population after 60 minutes.   ____

Find the size of the baterial population after 10 hours.  _____

Answer 1

Time (mins)

0 2500

30 2500 x 2

60 2500 x 2 x 2 = 10000

For 10 hours you can continue the pattern or use

P(t) = 2500 (2)^t/30

with t = 600

2500 = population at start

2 because it doubles every time period

/30 because it doubles every 30 minutes