When the polymerase chain reaction (pcr) is used to amplify segments of dna, the sample is first heated, and then cooled, in cycles. how many cycles of heating and cooling would be necessary to produce 16 times the original quantity of dna?

At least 17 PCR cycles or 16 PCR cycles

Explanation:

As we know -

In one chain of  heating and cooling  of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the strands of DNA gets doubled.

The general mathematical representation of this is

where "n" is the number of PCR cycles.

It is given that DNA strands  to be produced is 16 times the original quantity of DNA.

So the PCR cycle must be carried out at least 17 times in order to have DNA strand not less  than 16 times the original quantity of DNA