123
of 3

Alien Amoebas

Let's get a little trickier...

If we start with 200 alien amoebas and each amoeba splits into 1.7 amoebas every 12 hours, how many amoebas will there be in a week?

       Set it up and think!

split factor = 1.7

initial population = 200

number of splits = ?

       Our split factor is for 12 hours...

       There are 14 chunks of these in 7 days...

number of splits = 14

       number of amoebas = 200 * 1.7^( 14 ) = approximately 336,755.65
 

YOUR TURN:

If we start with 30 alien amoebas and each amoeba splits into 1.15 amoebas every minute, how many amoebas will there be in an hour and a half?

Here's how I'd like for you to remember this formula:

number of amoebas = ( initial population ) * ( split factor )^( # ) ... where # = number of splits
* I don't want you to memorize this thing with a t up there.

t usually stands for "time."  In the next sections, we'll have years, days and hours -- and these will NOT always represent the number of splits!  You'll see.