Stray cats loved eating goldfish in the pond leaving w goldfish. Paige had raised x goldfish in the pond initially. How many goldfish disappeared?
First, we need to find out how many goldfish were in the pond initially. We know that Paige had raised x goldfish in the pond, and we know that w goldfish are left. This means that the total number of goldfish must have been x + w. 

Now, we need to find out how many goldfish disappeared. To do this, we need to subtract the number of goldfish that are left from the total number of goldfish. We know that w goldfish are left, so the total number of goldfish must have been x + w - w. 

This means that the number of goldfish that disappeared is x.

Therefore, the answer (symbolic expression) is: 

x