A cafeteria worker who fails to wash his hands thoroughly and fails to wear gloves inoculates a quiche with 4 E. coli when he uses his finger to test whether it is done. By the time you purchase the quiche, there are 128 E. coli cells in it. How many generations did the cells go through?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The number of generations can be calculated using the formula: final number of cells = initial number of cells * 2^n, where n is the number of generations. Solving 128 = 4 * 2^n gives n = 5.

A Cafeteria Worker Who Fails to Wash His Hands Thoroughly