Bacteria are the most common example of exponential growth. Select a number between 2 and 10 to represent the hourly growth rate of a certain bacteria. For example, selecting the number 8 would mean that the amount of bacteria will be 8 times greater after every hour. a. Do some research and find a city that has experienced population growth.
Determine its population on January 1st of a certain year. Write an
exponential function to represent the city’s population, y, based on the
number of years that pass, x after a period of exponential growth. Describe
the variables and numbers that you used in your equation.

b. Find another city whose population starts larger than the city in part (a), but
that during this same time experienced population decline. Determine its
population for January 1st of the same year you picked for part (a). Write an
exponential function to represent the city’s population, y, based on the
number of years that pass, x after a period of population decline. Describe
the variables and numbers that you used in your equation.

c. Explain the similarities and differences between your equations in (a) and (b).

d. During what year will the population of city (a) first exceed that of city (b)?
Show all of your work and explain your steps.

e. During what year will the population of city (a) be at least twice the size of
the population of city (b)? Show all of your work and explain your steps.