Using an exponential function, it is found that there will be 32,768 bacteria after 3 hours.
An exponential function is modeled by:
[tex]y = ab^x[/tex]
In which:
For this problem, the parameters are:
a = 8, b = 4.
3 hours is 6 periods of 30 minutes, hence the amount is:
[tex]y = 8 \times 4^6 = 32768[/tex]
More can be learned about exponential functions at https://brainly.com/question/25537936
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