Question

A group of scientists studied the effect of a chemical on various strains of bacteria. Strain A started with 12000 cells and decreased at a constant rate of 4000 cells per hour after the chemical was applied. Strain B started with 6000 cells and decreased at a constant rate of 3000 cells per hour after the chemical was applied. When will the strains have the same number of​ cells?

Answer 1

The two equations would be, respectively, y=12,000-400x and y=6000-300x

Set the two equal to one another and solve for x.

The answer is 60 hours