Does a less b differ from b less a explain your answer?

Answer 1

Yes unless a=b, when a-b and b-a both =0.

Algebra it lets you generalise variables that may have very different values in use, so the acknowledgement of difference is implicit in use of different letters. question.

E.g. let a=4, b=2

Then a-b = 4-2 = 2

But

b-a = 2-4 = -2.