We can solve this problem using the concept of exponential growth, which is applicable in this case as the plant's height is changing in a multiplicative way over time.
Step 1: Identify the exponential growth formula and relevant variables
The general formula for exponential growth in a situation like this is , where:
is the final amount (in this case, the final height of the plant).
is the initial amount (the starting height of the plant, which is cm here).
is the growth factor per period (since the height triples every weeks, the growth factor ).
is the number of periods (we need to figure out how many -week periods are there in weeks).
Step 2: Determine the number of periods
To find the number of -week periods in weeks, we divide the total number of weeks by the length of each period: . So there are periods of