Bryan has 523 feet of leather cord to use to make friendship bracelets. He needs 12 foot of cord for each one. How many whole bracelets can Bryan make? $$

Dividing the total length of cord by the length needed for each bracelet gives 523 feet / 12 feet/bracelet = <<523/12=43.58>>43.58 bracelets.

Since Bryan can only make whole bracelets, he can make 43 whole bracelets. Answer: \boxed{43}.