Answer:
9,942 bacteria were there at 10 hours.
Step-by-step explanation:
Equation for population decay:
The equation for population decay, after t hours, is given by:
In which P(0) is the initial population and r is the decay rate, as a decimal.
Researchers recorded that a certain bacteria population declined from 200,000 to 900 in 18 hours.
This means that and that when
. So we use this to find r.
So
At this rate of decay, how many bacteria was there at 10 hours?
This is P(10). So
Rounding to the nearest whole number:
9,942 bacteria were there at 10 hours.