Question

A number of bacteria are placed in a utensil. One second later each bacterium divides in two, the next second each of the resulting bacteria divides in two again and so on. After a minute the utensil is full. When was utensil half full ?

Answer 1

lol

Answer 2

make a guess

Answer 3

@ajprincess Princess Help me

Answer 4

oh c'mon just guess

Answer 5

there is no way to do this other than thinking.
once you think, the answer will be completely obvious, take my word for it

Answer 6

@mikaela19900630 HELP

Answer 7

I guess to use geometric progression @satellite73

Answer 8

Let us assume the number of bacteria at 0 sec is x. then after 1 sec it will be 2x nd 2 sec it will be 4x. After 60 sec it will be 2^60x.

Answer 9

think backwards not forwards

Answer 10

divide it by 2. 2^60x/2=2^59x. so at 59 sec it is half

Answer 11

ok that works.
i think it is more clear just to say if it is full at 1 pm it must have been half full at 12:59 since it doubled in the last second

Answer 12

Thank you Sir