I'll say that the unknown number is "x", then our expression is

And we want to find out the value of "x"
To solve it, we will first do the sum on the right side:

Now, we want to have "x" alone on the left side, then, let's subtract 12 on both sides

Then the value of x is 8, let's test it:

Correct! 12 + 8 is 20. Then, the unknown number is 8