When you use multiple segments together, you're basically joining their conditions with a boolean AND. Adobe labels this as "stacking segments": https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/analytics/components/segmentation/segmentation-workflow/seg-build.html?lang=en#task_58140F17FFD64FF1BC30DC7B0A1B0E6D
So let's say you have these 3 segments:
Segment 1: Countries contains United States, Japan, Singapore
Segment 2: Mobile Device Type equals mobile
Segment 3: Countries equals Japan
Then
Total = Segment 1 + Segment 2 + Segment 3 = (Countries contains United States, Japan, Singapore) AND (Mobile Device Type equals mobile) AND (Countries equals Japan) = Countries equals Japan AND Mobile Device Type equals mobile.
And
Segment 1 + Segment 2 = Countries contains United States, Japan, Singapore AND Mobile Device Type equals mobile
So if you're trying to get Segment 3 by excluding Segment 1 + Segment 2 from Total, you're trying to do this:
Total + Exclude(Segment 1 + Segment 2) = (Countries equals Japan AND Mobile Device Type equals mobile) AND NOT[(Countries contains United States, Japan, Singapore AND Mobile Device Type equals mobile)] = Countries equals Japan AND Mobile Device Type equals mobile AND [NOT(Countries contains United States, Japan, Singapore) OR NOT(Mobile Device Type equals mobile)] = Countries equals Japan AND Mobile Device Type equals mobile AND (Countries does not contain United States, Japan, Singapore OR Mobile Device Type does not equal mobile)
As you can see, the resulting conditions are such that you can't get back the equivalent of Segment 3, i.e. Countries equals Japan.