Algebra-1

1. Determine the number of doubling periods:

Since the fish population doubles every 6 months and we want to know the population after 2 years, we first need to figure out how many 6 - month periods are there in 2 years.

 

There are 12 months in a year, so in 2 years there are  months. Each doubling period is 6 months. So the number of doubling periods  is .

 

2. Use the exponential growth formula:

The formula for exponential growth in this case is , where:

 is the final number of fish.

 is the initial number of fish, which is  here.

 is the number of doubling periods, which we found to be .

 

3. Plug in the values and calculate:

Substitute

Click "Show Answer" to reveal the answer and analysis