Final answer:
The area of the hexagon can be found by using the formula: area of a regular hexagon = 6 * area of an equilateral triangle. An equivalent expression for the area of the hexagon based on the area of a triangle is 4a² - 3. The correct option is 1.
Step-by-step explanation:
The area of the hexagon can be found by using the formula: area of a regular hexagon = 6 * area of an equilateral triangle. The given expression for the area of the hexagon is 24a² - 18 square units.
Since each of the six equilateral triangles has the same area, let's represent the area of an equilateral triangle as x.
Now, we can set up the equation: 6x = 24a² - 18. Dividing both sides by 6 gives us x = 4a² - 3.
Therefore, an equivalent expression for the area of the hexagon based on the area of a triangle is 4a² - 3. The correct option is 1.