Question regarding SQL Query Editor

I am designing a query using the Query Editor in SQL server.
I am querying a table and putting a filter on a nvarchar column.
If I type a value into the filter column, for example '12', the editor changes it to N'12'.  
why is it doing this?  What does the "N" signify?
dsoderstromAsked:
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Jim HornMicrosoft SQL Server Developer, Architect, and AuthorCommented:
N (nchar, nvarchar, ntext) signifies Unicode, meaning it handles a larger number of characters then non-unicode, and each character takes two bytes in memory instead of one.

Typically this is needed when dealing with foreign language collations.

>If I type a value into the filter column, for example '12', the editor changes it to N'12'.  
Curiosity overwhelms me ... if you have a column that you'd want to filter on '12', then why is it a character data type as opposed to numeric?
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dsoderstromAuthor Commented:
So, can I strip out this N and get the same results?
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Jim HornMicrosoft SQL Server Developer, Architect, and AuthorCommented:
I believe it is the correct format when using an expression with a unicode (nchar, nvarchar) column.
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dsoderstromAuthor Commented:
Okay, thanks for the info Jim
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Microsoft SQL Server 2008

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