###Human: Steve has 2 boxes of pencils with 12 pencils in each box. He gave Matt 3 more pencils than he gave to Lauren. If Steve gave 6 pencils to Lauren, how many pencils does he have left?, ### Assistant: Steve started with 2 * 12 = 24 pencils.
He gave Matt 6 + 3 = 9 pencils.
After giving away the pencils, Steve will have 24 – 9 – 6 = 9 pencils left. 
 So the answer is :  9