Advanced MathVery hardTripling period
Advanced Math practice question
A colony of bacteria triples in size every 2 hours. If it starts with 100 cells, how many cells will it have after 4 hours?
Answer: 900
Four hours contains two 2-hour periods, so the colony triples twice: 100 × 3 × 3 = 900.
Common wrong answers
- If you answered 300
- 300 is after ONE tripling — that's at 2 hours, not 4.
- If you answered 1200
- 1,200 is 100 × 3 × 4, treating the tripling as happening once per hour times... it triples once every 2 hours: two triplings, 100 × 9.
- If you answered 8100
- 8,100 is 100 × 3⁴, tripling every hour instead of every 2 hours.
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