Question

: A colony of bacteria that begins with 2 bacteria quadruples every hour.
Challenge Question: How many bacteria are there is expected to be after 5 hours? Is this growth best described as linear or exponential? Explain your reasoning.

Answer 1

Answer:

After 5 hours, the colony size is 2048.

The growth is exponential, described by the function given below;

There is a common ratio of 4, i.e. the colony size multiplies by 4 every hour.

Step-by-step explanation:

C = Size of Colony

t = Number of hours

$C = 2(4)^{t}$

After 5 hours:

$C_{5} = 2(4)^{5}\\C_{5} = 2(1024)\\C_{5} = 2048$