Answer
$12$
Work Step by Step
The geometric mean of two numbers can be found using the following proportion:
$\frac{a}{x} = \frac{x}{b}$, where $a$ and $b$ are positive numbers and $x$ is the geometric mean.
Let's plug in our numbers:
$\frac{3}{x} = \frac{x}{48}$
Use the cross products property to get rid of the fractions:
$x^2 = 144$
Take the positive square root to solve for $x$:
$x = 12$