A common inhabitant of human intestines is the bacterium Escherichia coli. A cell of this bacterium in a nutrient-broth medium divides into two cells every 20 minutes. The initial population of a culture is 60 cells.
(a) Find the relative growth rate.
(b) Find an expression for the number of cells after hours.
(c) Find the number of cells after 8 hours.
(d) Find the rate of growth after 8 hours.
(e) When will the population reach 20,000 cells?