Dr. Silas studies a culture of bacteria under a microscope. the function b1(t) = 500(1.6)^t represents the number of bacteria t hours after Dr. Silas begins her study. a) Is this exponential growth or decay? Explain how you know.

b) What does the value 500 represent in this situation?

c) The number of bacteria in a second study is modeled by the function b2(t) = 800(1.6)^t. What is the growth rate, r, for this equation? What does the difference of 500 and 800 mean between the two studies?

PLEASE HELP I REALLY NEED THE CORRECT ANSWERS AND QUICK! THANK YOU TO ANYONE WHO HELPS

First, think of what you know. you know that the number t the end of the equation will need to be subtracted because it is the money he lost from buying the lawn mower. and your first two weeks have negative profit, so that tells you that c and d are wrong. now you can plug any of the weeks into a and b to see which one works. i'll start with plugging week 1 into a.this isn't right because it says your answer for week one should be -90.so now we need to try the same thing with b.this one got you the right answer, (sometimes if you only check with one of the weeks multiple will work so you need to check with more of the weeks, but it worked out fine here)this means that b is the correct answer.let me know if you need more clarification. i hope this : )