Identify the equation that best describes the following information: Josie has three times as many pencils as Marcy. Marcy has 12 pencils.
Let's call the number of pencils Josie has "j", and the number of pencils Marcy has "m". We know from the information given that "j" is three times as many as "m". So, we can express this relationship as:
j = 3m
We also know that Marcy has 12 pencils. So we substitute the value of "m" with 12 in the equation:
j = 3(12)
This simplifies to:
j = 36
Therefore, the equation that best describes the information is j = 36.