At the start of an experiment, there are 30 bacteria in a dish. The bacteria population is expected to grow at a rate of 180% each day. Which is the best prediction for the bacteria population after 7 days?

Let At be the number of bacteria in the petri dish after t days. The equation that would best represent the given scenario in this item is,

At = (Ao) (1.8^t)

Ao is equal to 30. Substituting the known values,

At = (30) (1.8^7) = 1836.66 bacteria

Therefore, there are approximately 1837 bacteria after 7 days.