The bacteria in a jar triple every 20 seconds. After three minutes, there are 275,562 bacteria in the jar. How many were in the jar at the beginning of the experiment?
After three minutes, the number of bacteria $n$ has tripled $9$ times.  This gives us the equation $n \cdot 3^9 = 275,\!562$, or $19,\!683n=275,\!562$, so $n = \boxed{14}$