Exponential growth and decay problems follow the model given by the equation A(t) = Pert. The model is a function of time t A(t) is the amount we have after time t P is the initial amount, because for t = 0, notice how A(0) = Pet = Pe = P Tis the growth or decay rate. It is positive for growth and negative for decay Growth and decay problems can deal with money (interest compounded continuously), bacteria growth, radioactive decay, population growth etc. So A(t) can represent any of these depending on the problem. Practice The growth of a certain bacteria population can be modeled by the function A(t) = 850e 0.0523* where A(t) is the number of bacteria and to represents the time in minutes. a. What is the initial number of bacteria? the nearest whole number of bacteria.) (round to b. What is the number of bacteria after 25 minutes? (round to the nearest whole number of bacteria.) c. How long will it take for the number of bacteria to (your answer must be accurate to at least double? 3 decimal places.)