Acommon inhabitant of human intestines is the bacterium escherichia coli. a cell of this bacterium in a nutrient-broth medium divides into two cells every 20 minutes. the initial population of a culture is 57 cells.
(a) find the relative growth rate. (assume t is measured in hours.)
k = ln(8)
(b) find an expression for the number of cells after t hours.
p(t) = 57(8)^t
(c) find the number of cells after 8 hours.
956,301,312 cells.
(d) find the rate of growth after 8 hours. (round your answer to three decimal places.)
cells per hour
(e) when will the population reach 20,000 cells? (round your answer to two decimal places.)