We can verify that p = 1 is a root of f (p) = 2p³ - 7p² + 7p - 2 by showing that p (1) = 0. Substituting p = 1 into f (p) gives,

f (1) = 2(1)³ - 7(1)² + 7(1) - 2 = 0.

Now we have a mathematical verification of a concept that makes sense when ou think about the biology.

Now that we know that p = 1 is a root of f (p), we can divide f (p) by the known factor p - 1 as,

We can now find the remaining two roots of the cubic by finding the roots of the quadratic g (p) = 2p² - 7p + 2. Using the quadratic formula yields,

Therefore, we have found the remaining two roots as:

and the sum of these roots is 5/2.

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