What number is 2 less than 42?

When solving a question like "What number is 2 less than 42?", take a close look at what it is really asking.

You have the number 42 and you are looking for a number that is 2 less than 42. In other words, if you have 42 and take away 2, then how many do you have?

You guessed it! This is a subtraction problem. 42 is the minuend and 2 is subtrahend and the answer we are looking for is the difference.

Therefore, to solve "What number is 2 less than 42?", you subtract 2 from 42 like so:

42 - 2 = 40

Less Than Calculator
Need another answer? Enter another "What number is X less than Y?" problem below:

What number is 2 less than 43?
Proceed to the next problem on our list that we explained and answered.