In a lab experiment, 50 bacteria are placed in a petri dish. The conditions are such that the number of bacteria is able to double every 20 hours. How many bacteria would there be after 8 hours, to the nearest whole number?

X^3 - x^2 - x + 1 = 0
Plug in x = 1:-
1 -1 - 1 + 1 = 2 - 2 = 0  so x =1 is a root.

If it has multiplicity 3 then  the function will factor to (x - 1)^3:-

(x - 1)^3 = (x - 1)(x^2 - 2x + 1) =  x^3 - 2x^2  + x - x^2 + 2x - 1 
             
 =  x^3 - 3x^2 + 3x - 1  so it is FALSE