The product of a number t and 3 decreased by 1 is 11. Write an equation that models the verbal sentence. Solve the equation. What is the number?

To write an equation that models the given verbal sentence, we first need to identify the key information.

The verbal sentence states: "The product of a number t and 3 decreased by 1 is 11."
Let's break it down:

"The product of a number t and 3" can be represented as t * 3.
"Decreased by 1" means we subtract 1 from the previous quantity, which is (t * 3).
"is 11" means the result should be equal to 11.

Putting it all together, we have the equation: (t * 3) - 1 = 11.

To solve this equation and find the value of t, we need to isolate the variable t.

Starting with the equation: (t * 3) - 1 = 11,
We can begin by adding 1 to both sides of the equation to eliminate the -1 term: (t * 3) - 1 + 1 = 11 + 1,
This simplifies to: t * 3 = 12.

Next, we want to isolate t, so we divide both sides of the equation by 3: (t * 3) / 3 = 12 / 3,
This simplifies to: t = 4.

Therefore, the number t is equal to 4.