pre_text: The following table presents summary results for each of our three businesses for each of fiscal 2019 , 2018 and 2017 : (1) Cloud and license revenues presented for management reporting included revenues related to cloud and license obligations that would have otherwise been recorded by the acquired businesses as independent entities but were not recognized in our consolidated statements of operations for the periods presented due to business combination accounting requirements. See Note 9 for an explanation of these adjustments and the table below for a reconciliation of our total operating segment revenues to our total consolidated revenues as reported in our consolidated statements of operations (2) The margins reported reflect only the direct controllable costs of each line of business and do not include allocations of product development, general and administrative and certain other allocable expenses, net. Additionally, the margins reported above do not reflect amortization of intangible assets, acquisition related and other expenses, restructuring expenses, stock-based compensation, interest expense or non-operating income, net. refer to the table below for a reconciliation of our total margin for operating segments to our income before provision for income taxes as reported per our consolidated statements of operations.
table: Year Ended May 31,
table: (in millions) 2019 2018 2017
table: Cloud and license:
table: revenues (1) $32,582 $32,041 $30,452
table: Cloud services and license support expenses 3,597 3,441 2,881
table: Sales and marketing expenses 7,398 7,213 6,770
table: Margin (2) $21,587 $21,387 $20,801
table: Hardware:
table: revenues $3,704 $3,994 $4,152
table: Hardware products and support expenses 1,327 1,547 1,618
table: Sales and marketing expenses 520 643 825
table: Margin (2) $1,857 $1,804 $1,709
table: Services:
table: revenues $3,240 $3,395 $3,359
table: Services expenses 2,703 2,729 2,661
table: Margin (2) $537 $666 $698
table: Totals:
table: revenues (1) $39,526 $39,430 $37,963
table: Expenses 15,545 15,573 14,755
table: Margin (2) $23,981 $23,857 $23,208
question: Analyse this data from a financial earnings document. What was the difference in total expenses in 2019 and 2017?