I believe the answer is 6 white marbles. how i figured that out was i made an equation. i took the variable Y (for the yellow marbles) times 2 minus 6 equals 18. you then add 6 to the other side of the equal sign to cancel out the 6. you then have y(2)=24. you divide y and 24 by 2. you get 12 yellow marbles. next step is to take 18 - 12. you are left with 6 white marbles. hope this helps!
My friend... My method wasn't wrong and I couldn't find any mistake on my procedure... Check it out and analyze it by yourself...
Answer:

Step-by-step explanation:
Given

Required:
Simplify
We start by opening the bracket


Collect Like Terms

Hence, the equivalent expression is 
X and Y can almost be any number and long as the statement 'equal to' is true the equation is correct.