Question

In a science-fiction story, a spaceship travels 3 times faster each minute than it traveled during the minute before. If the ship travels at 3 km/hr during its first minute of flight, which expression shows the ship's speed in kilometers per hour during the 15th minute?

Answer 1

The expression is:

$speed(minutes)=3\frac{km}{h} ^{minutes} \\\\speed(15minutes)=(3^{15})\frac{km}{4} =14348907\frac{km}{g}$

Why?

From the statement we know that the spaceship travels 3 times faster each minute that it traveled during the minute before, it can be expressed using an exponential function, its base will be the starting speed (during the first minute).

The expression will be:

$speed(minutes)=(3^{minutes})\frac{km}{h} \\\\speed(15minutes)=(3^{15})\frac{km}{h}=14348907\frac{km}{h}$

Have a nice day!