A fish population, , can be represented by the equationwhere is time in years since the beginning of 2015. What was the fish population at the beginning of 2012? A. 100 B. 800 C. 2,400 D. 6,400

Look, when you want to do something like put it like x^2. x2 could mean x² or x₂. so to clear confusion, know the notation. to find the product multiply the x's and you get -8x and the y's and you get 6y. since it's all being multiplied it is just -8x6y, or answer a. although the better answer is -48xy(combining -8 and 6) because you should multiply constants whenever you can.