The estimated number of organisms in a population after t days is shown in the following table. t days estimated number of organisms, n 2 860 4 1 comma 250 6 1 comma 800 8 2 comma 600 10 3 comma 720 Which equation best models the situation?

The population grows by about the same factor every 2 days: 1,250 ÷ 860 is about 1.45, close to 1.2². So the daily growth factor is about 1.2. The model n = 600 × 1.2ᵗ predicts about 864 organisms at t = 2 and 3,715 at t = 10, close to the table values. Therefore, choice D, n = 600 times 1.2 to the tth power, best models the situation.

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