Suppose there are two routes from North Point to Boulder Creek, three routes from Boulder Creek to Beaver Dam, three routes from Beaver Dam to Star Lake, and four routes directly from Boulder Creek to Star Lake. (Hint: Draw a sketch. Assume each route can pass through a city at most one time.) (a) How many routes from North Point to Star Lake pass through Beaver Dam

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.