First, let's simplify the terms inside the parentheses:

-44.5/18 ≈ -2.4722
10.31/48 ≈ 0.2146

Now, we can substitute these values back into the expression and simplify further:

74.29/36 - (-2.4722 + 0.2146)
= 74.29/36 - (-2.2576)
= 74.29/36 + 2.2576
= 2.0636

Therefore, 74.29/36 - (-44.5/18 + 10.31/48) is approximately equal to 2.0636.