The square of a number is 12 less than 7 times the number. What is the number?

Let the number be x. “The square is 12 less than 7 times the number” gives x² = 7x − 12, so x² − 7x + 12 = 0. Factoring gives (x − 3)(x − 4) = 0, so the number is 3 or 4. The correct choice is “3 or 4.”

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