On Thursday, Eric read ³₇ of a story book. On Friday, he read 40 pages of the story book. On Saturday, he read ⁵₈ of the remaining book leaving 24 pages unread.

1. Find the number of pages read on Saturday.
2. Find the total number of pages in the story book.

(a)
Number of remaining unread pages after reading on Friday = 8 u

Number of remaining unread pages after reading on Saturday
= 8 u - 5 u
= 3 u

3 u = 24

1 u = 24 ÷ 3 = 8

Number of pages that Eric read on Saturday
= 5 u
= 5 x 8
= 40

(b) 
Working backwards.

Number of pages unread after reading on Friday
= 8 u
= 8 x 8
= 64

Total number of pages in the story book = 7 p

Number of pages unread after reading on Thursday 
= 7 p - 3 p
= 4 p

4 p = 40 + 64
4 p = 104

1 p = 104 ÷ 4 = 26

Total number of pages in the story book
= 7 p
= 7 x 26
= 182

Answer(s): (a) 40; (b) 182