A group of scientists have been studying the rate at which a certain strain of bacteria grows. The scientists started with a single bacterium, and this particular sample doubles once every 24 hours. From this information, they have determined that the function for the growth of the bacterial sample is b(t) = 3t

where t represents the amount of time that has passed in days and b(t) represents the number of bacteria in the sample at time t.

One scientist wants to examine the growth only between days 2 and 6 (inclusive). What are the minimum and maximum values of the bacterial population along this interval?
A.
minimum: 729, maximum: 9
B.
minimum: 27, maximum: 27
C.
minimum: 8, maximum: 216
D.
minimum: 9, maximum: 729