Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2021 / Paper 1 / 7 / Solution

Let $p(x)=x^3-5x-1$. Its values at useful points areSince a polynomial is a continuous function, the intermediate value theorem gives one polynomial root in each of the disjoint intervals $(-3,-2)$, $(-1,0)$ and $(2,3)$. A nonzero cubic polynomial has at most three distinct polynomial roots. Hence it hasThese three distinct polynomial roots already exhaust its degree of a polynomial, so each has multiplicity of a root one.