What number is 3 less than 12?

When solving a question like "What number is 3 less than 12?", take a close look at what it is really asking.

You have the number 12 and you are looking for a number that is 3 less than 12. In other words, if you have 12 and take away 3, then how many do you have?

You guessed it! This is a subtraction problem. 12 is the minuend and 3 is subtrahend and the answer we are looking for is the difference.

Therefore, to solve "What number is 3 less than 12?", you subtract 3 from 12 like so:

12 - 3 = 9

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