Final answer:
The equation that represents this scenario is y = 250 x 4^x.
Step-by-step explanation:
The equation that represents this scenario is y = 250 x 4^x. In this equation, x represents the number of hours and y represents the population of bacteria. The population quadruples every hour, so we use the exponentiation operator (^) to raise 4 to the power of x. By substituting different values of x, you can calculate the population of bacteria at different time points.