Ammon and nakia volunteer at an animal shelter. nakia worked three hours more than ammon. they each worked a whole number of hours. together they worked more than 27 hours. what is the least number of hours they worked

If Ammon's hours are a and Nakia's hours are n, then n=3+a (since Nakia worked 3 hours more). Since it has to be more than 27 and worked for a whole number of hours, we can figure out that their least combined hours is 28 (since 27+1=28). In addition, since a+n=28, we can plug 3+a in for n to get a+a+3=28 and 2a+3=28. Subtracting 3 from both sides, we get 2a=25 and by dividing by 2 we get a=12.5. Oops, it isn't a whole number (to prevent this from happening, we could have figured out that the equation would be 2a+3=<total hours> and 2a=<total hours>-3. As even numbers divided by 2 are whole, we could have made that <total hours>-3 is even)! We'll have to try the next number, 29, to get 2a+3=29. Subtracting 3 from both sides, we get 2a=26 and by dividing by 2 we get a=13. n=a+3=16, and 13+16=29=the total hours