What's five less than three times a number is forty six

To solve problems like these, we simply need to break down each part to form the equation.

We start off with "5 less than," which generally means subtraction.

-5

Next, it says "3 times a number." "Times" represents multiplication, and "a number" shows where our variable is supposed to be.

3n-5

Finally, we have "is 46." "Is" almost always means an equal sign, and 46 is the value it equals.

3n-5=46

Using the logic above, we can conclude that the equation to represent these words is 3n-5=46.