The result is the number 3. Unlike the + operator, the - operator doesn't perform string concatenation. When the - operator is used, JavaScript attempts to convert any non-numeric operands to numbers. In this case, '5' is converted to the number 5, and then 5 - 2 results in 3. This is another example of implicit type coercion, but one that converts in the opposite direction (string to number) compared to the + operator when used with strings.