the population of a bacteria culture doubles in number every 12 minutes. the ratio of the number of bacteria at the end of 1 hour to the number of bacteria at the beginning of the hour is?

Question

anonymous · Answer

Let's say the number of bacteria you initially have is "a."  The number of bacteria doubles every twelve minutes, which means that it doubles 5 times in an hour.  You have
$$(2)(2)(2)(2)(2)a=a*2^5=32a$$ at the end of the hour.  You started out with only a.  This means your ratio is 32a/a = 32.