Question

the relitive growth rate for a certain type of bactieria population is 85% per hour. a small culture has formed and in just 2 hours the count shows to be 12,500 bacteria in the culture what is the inital number of bacteria in the culture?

Answer 1

So, the initial number of bacteria in the culture = x
After 1 hour,

The number of bacteria = 185x/100
                                      = 1.85x
After 2 hours,
The number of bacteria = (185 * 1.85x)/100 
                                      = 3.42x
So:
3.42x = 12500
x = 12500/3.42
   = 3654.97
   = 3655

From the above deduction, we can conclude that the initial number of bacteria in the culture is 3655.

-taskmasters