HSH: Innfringsmatematikk og Databehandling

Bacteria everywhere!

[ Streaked colonies of Xanthomonas campestris ]

Streaked colonies of Xanthomonas campestris on an agar plate. The colonies have produced copious extracellular slime - a complex polysaccharide composed of more than one type of sugar (a heteropolymer). It is termed xanthan and has important commercial uses as a gel that is stable at relatively high temperatures. About 20,000 tonnes of xanthan are produced industrially from X. campestris each year. It is used as a gelling and stabilising agent in salad dressings, ice creams, toothpastes, cosmetics, water-based paints, etc., and also as a drilling lubricant in oil wells.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Dr Forland's boss will visit the lab. What if the bacteria have covered the entire floor and the walls and everything in the lab by then?
Forland knows that his job is on the line. If the lab is ruined by these stupid bacteria, he will be fired! Good-bye nice pension, good-bye merry julebord!
Forland takes a piece of paper and frantically puts down notes. Number of bacteria at t = 0 hours: 2400. Growth rate: doubling every 2.1 hours. Good. So how many bacteria is that at time t = 15 hours?
If only he had a formula for this!@!@!
He turns to you, the friendly lab assistant. Coolly you scribble down some lines on a piece of paper and hand it over to Dr Forland.
Click here to see the notes
Dr Forland needs more help!