If a population of 100 cells triples every hour, which function represents p(t), the population after t hours?

Exponential functions are in the form , where a is the initial value, b is the growth rate (percent increase) + 1, and x is the number of time periods.  Our initial value is 100, and we're given the growth rate + 1 (tripling is the same as increasing by 200%; 200%=2.0; 2.0+1=3).  Therefore our function is .