Two numbers have a sum of 44. The larger number is 2 more than the smaller number. What is the smaller number?

17

21

23

19

The answer is 21.

Step-by-step explanation:

If the numbers have a distance of 2 on a number line then we can break 44 into two pieces, we now have two equal pieces equivalent to 22, we now add to one piece one and we subtract one from the other piece creating a gap of 2 between the two numbers while the sum of both is still 44.

21

Step-by-step explanation:

Smaller number = 21

Bigger number = 23

21 + 23 = 44