It's asking for the product of a number (which is unknown, therefore it's "x") and 5 which has 12 added to it. Your equation would be: 5x + 12 = -3
And you subtract 12 from both sides (12 minus 12 is 0 which cancel it out and -3 minus 12 is -5) leaving you with 5x = -15, then you divide by 5 leaving you with X= -3 .
would be equivalent