46 is the difference of donnies age and 24

Question

use variable D to to repersent donnies age

Answer 1

46 = D-24

D = 46+24 = 70

D =70 years old = Donnie's age

convention is to put the bigger number first in calculating the difference so you get a positive number

24-D = 46 would lead to D =24-46= -22 which is impossible anyway. So D has to be the larger number