Final answer:
The earliest date among the given options is Sep. 22, 1986. This date comes before the other listed dates within the year 1986.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question is asking to identify the earliest date out of a list of given dates. When comparing dates to find the earliest, you need to look first at the years, then the months, and finally the days.
In this case, all the dates provided except one are from the year 1986. So they are immediately the focus as they are in the same year and can be compared by their months and days. The dates are:
- Dec. 25, 1986
- Sep. 22, 1986
- Dec. 24, 1986
- Oct. 24, 1986
September (Sep.) comes before October (Oct.), and October comes before December (Dec.). Therefore, the date in September is the earliest from the list of dates in 1986.
The correct answer is Option B. Sep. 22, 1986. This is the earliest date listed in the options.