Parkway Schools

A certain type of bacteria reproduces at an extremely high rate - it triples in population in just 24 hours.

1. If there are 10 of these bacteria at noon on Monday, how many will there be each day until Saturday at noon?  Display these data in an organized manner.
2. Create a graph that shows the growth in population of the bacteria from Monday at noon until Saturday at noon.
3. As you are trying to find an equation to model this relationship, a friend suggests you try y = 10x, where x is the number of 24 hour periods.  Do you agree or disagree?  Defend your position.

Study the table below.

Can these data be modeled by a quadratic function?  Explain why or why not.  If not, classify this function as either linear or exponential and justify your answer.

2.2

After having knee surgery, the doctor tells Lisa that the 7-weeks of rehabilitiation work she'll be doing to help her knee heal will start off easy, but slowly get more difficult over the course of the first three weeks.  In the fourth week, the rehab will be very difficult, but then the work will gradually get easier over the final three weeks.  Sketch the graph of Lisa's rehab over the next 7 weeks.  Which type of function(s) might model this situation - linear, quadratic, and/or exponential?  Explain your answer.  Which type of function best models this situation?  Justify your answer.