The best way to approach a word problem like this
is to break it down into pieces, so we can understand it fully.
In this problem, we have a number, which we don't know.
We can use any variable to represent it.
So let's use the variable n to represent it.
"Two less than three times a number" means 3n - 2.
A common mistake is for students to put 2 - 3n.
However, the word "less than" switches the order around.
So we have 3n - 2 = 19.
Solving from here, we add 2 to both sides to get 3n = 21.
Now divide both sides of the equation by 3 and we have n = 7.
So the number is 7.