college algebra

Question

A bacteria culture contains 1500 bacteria initially and doubles every hour.

a. Find a function that models the bacteria growth.

b. Find the number of bacteria after 24 hours.

Answer 1

Let f(t) = the number of bacteria at time t (hours).

 

f(t) = 1500*2^t

 

For t = 24:

 

f(24) = 1500*2²⁴ = 25,165,824,000 bacteria