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The half life of a certain substance is about 4 hours. The graph shows the decay of a 50 gram sample of the substance that is measured every hour for 9 hours.


Which function can be used to determine the approximate number of grams of the sample remaining after t hours?


a

y = 50(0.85)x


b

y = 25(0.15)x


c

y = 50(0.15)x


d

y = 25(0.85)x

The half life of a certain substance is about 4 hours. The graph shows the decay of a 50 gram sample of the substance that is measured every hour for 9 hours. W class=

Verified Answer :

Okay, so a half-life means that every so and so (which in this case is 4 hours), what we have is now equal to half of that (although it does do this more gradually).

The answer to this would be 50(0.85)x


Answer:

Option A - \(y=50(0.85)^x\)                          

Step-by-step explanation:

Given : The half life of a certain substance is about 4 hours. The graph shows the decay of a 50 gram sample of the substance that is measured every hour for 9 hours.


To find : Which function can be used to determine the approximate number of grams of the sample remaining after t hours?

Solution :

The general form of exponential is \(y=ab^x\)

where a is the initial value , b is the growth or decay rate.

We have given initial value is 50 i.e, a=50

The half life of a certain substance is about 4 hours.

x=4 , \(y=\frac{50}{2}=25\)

Substitute in the general form,

\(y=ab^x\)

\(25=50(b^4)\)

\(b=(\frac{1}{2})^{\frac{1}{4}}\)

\(b=0.85\)

Therefore, The exponential function form is \(y=50(0.85)^x\)

Hence, Option A is correct.