The population of a bacterial colony, PPP, is being monitored in a laboratory. The number of bacteria is modelled by the equation
log10P=2+0.04t \log_{10} P = 2 + 0.04t log10P=2+0.04twhere t t\,t is the time in hours after monitoring began.
Use the equation of the model to answer parts (a) and (b).
Find the initial population of the bacterial colony.
After T T\,T hours, the population reaches 500. Find the value of TTT, giving your answer to 2 decimal places.
104 exam-style questions on OCR A Level Maths 1.6 Exponentials and Logarithms, covering 1.6.1 Properties of the exponential function, 1.6.2 Gradient of e^(kx) (A-level only), 1.6.3 Definition of the logarithm, 1.6.4 The natural logarithm function, 1.6.5 ln x as inverse of e^x, 1.6.6 Laws of logarithms, 1.6.7 Equations involving exponentials, 1.6.8 Reduction to linear form, and 1.6.9 Modelling using exponential functions. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.