Photo folders size discrepancies- number of photos and size of space used

so i called back again this am and asked for a senior advisor in Photos. We talked a few minutes, I showed him the issue and put me on hold and did some research. He came back on and said he was told that the number is going to be different because I sync not using iCloud..... and there are going to be "different items".... I said, huh, what does that mean? What different items? I asked how do I tell which they are and what's being synced then and what not - where are the different items? He put me on hold and I was transferred again. I now suspect the 1st fellow was not a "senior tier 2" advisor. Went over it again with another fellow. this makes sense - too back it too SO MANY calls..... In the photo folder on the Mac we sync with there are iPhoto library, iPod photo cache, Photo booth library and photos library folders. If I exclude those and "get info" on the remainder of the folders, the no. and sizes matches almost exactly to what is being synced. The culprit for the greatest difference is the iPod photo cache for about 15gig. The 4 folders are included in the total but do not sync to the iPad, hence the difference.

ok, ill call them again. I originally was transferred to tech support for Mac. Then photos support then on 2 more calls, I dont know who, but was told that , "what am I suppose to do? I dont where to start - its complicated."

Thanks for the reply. I don’t use iCloud photos. All photos are placed in a folder on the MacBook and I use finder to select which ones to sync to devices via cable.