A culture of a certain bacteria doubles every hour. At 9:00 a.m, there were already 120 bacteria. Which equation represents the number of bacteria, n , at 8:00 a.m? How many bacteria were there?(1 point)
The equation that represents the number of bacteria, n, at 8:00 a.m can be written as:
n = 120 / 2
Simplifying this equation gives:
n = 60
Therefore, there were 60 bacteria at 8:00 a.m.
To determine the number of bacteria at 8:00 a.m., we need to work backwards from 9:00 a.m. Given that the bacteria double every hour, we can divide the number of bacteria at 9:00 a.m. (120) by 2 to find the number of bacteria at 8:00 a.m.
Let "n" represent the number of bacteria at 8:00 a.m. The equation that represents the number of bacteria at 8:00 a.m. is:
n = 120 / 2
Simplifying the equation gives us:
n = 60
Therefore, there were 60 bacteria at 8:00 a.m.
To determine the number of bacteria at 8:00 a.m, we need to calculate how many times the culture doubled from 8:00 a.m to 9:00 a.m.
Since the culture doubles every hour, there is a time difference of 1 hour between 8:00 a.m and 9:00 a.m. Therefore, the culture doubled once during that hour.
We know that at 9:00 a.m, there were 120 bacteria. So, if we assume the number of bacteria at 8:00 a.m is "n", then the equation representing the number of bacteria at 8:00 a.m would be:
n * 2^1 = 120
Simplifying the equation:
2n = 120
Divide both sides of the equation by 2:
n = 60
Therefore, the number of bacteria at 8:00 a.m was 60.