Find the positive number n such that thrice its square is equal to 12 times the number.

The problem can be translated into an equation using algebra. Let's start by translating the words into math symbols. Let n be the positive number we are looking for. The phrase "thrice its square" means 3 times n^2 or 3n^2. The phrase "12 times the number" means 12 times n or 12n. So we can translate the sentence "thrice its square is equal to 12 times the number" into the equation: 3n^2 = 12n Now we can solve for n. First, we can simplify the equation by dividing both sides by 3: n^2 = 4n Next, we can rearrange the equation by subtracting 4n from both sides: n^2 - 4n = 0 Now we can factor out an n: n(n - 4) = 0 So the solutions to this equation are n = 0 and n - 4 = 0, which gives n = 4. However, we are looking for a positive value of n, so we can discard the solution n = 0. Therefore, the positive number n such that thrice its square is equal to 12 times the number is n = 4. Therefore, the answer is 4.