The population of a bacteria culture doubles every 2 minutes. Approximately how many minutes will it take for the population to grow from 1,000 to 200,000 bacteria Choose one:
A) 10
B) 12
C) 14
D) 16
E) 18
The question basically asks how many minutes it takes for a population to increase by factor 200 (200,000 / 1,000 = 200).   Now you know that every two minutes the population doubles, i.e. is multiplied by 2. So the equation becomes:   2^x &gt;= 200, where x represents the number of times the population doubles. A lot of people remember that 2^10 = 1,024. Hence, 2^8 = 256, i.e. the population has to double 8 times.   Since it takes the population 2 minutes to double once it takes 8*2= 
<gadget id="calculator">8*2</gadget>
<output>16</output>
16 minutes to double 8 times.   Thus, solution 16= 16 is correct.
<result>D</result>
The population of a bacteria culture doubles every 2 minutes. Approximately how many minutes will it take for the population to grow from 1,000 to 200,000 bacteria