Six equilateral triangles are connected to create a regular hexagon. the area of the hexagon is 24a2 – 18 square units. which is an equivalent expression for the area of the hexagon based on the area of a triangle?

6(4a2 – 3)
6(8a2 – 9)
6a(12a – 9)
6a(18a – 12)

The hexagon is formed from six equilateral triangles. The triangles, being equilateral forming regular hexagon, have equal areas. In this problem, to determine the expression based on the area of a triangle, factor out six from the given expression. This gives 6(4a2 - 3). Thus, the answer is the first among the choices.