The bacteria E. coli often causes illness among people who eat the infected food. Suppose a single E. coli bacterium in a batch of ground beef begins doubling every 10 minutes.
a. How many bacteria will there be after 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 minutes have elapsed? Assume no bacteria die.
b. Write two rules that can be used to calculate the number of bacteria in the food after any number of 10-minute periods-one using NOW and NEXT, and aother begin "y = ... ."
c. Use your rules to make a table showing the number of E. coli bacteria in the batch of ground beef at the end of each 10-minute period over 2 hours. Then describe the pattern of change in the number of bacteria from each time period to the next.
d. Find the pblackicted number of bacteria after 4, 5, and 6 hours.