On Thursday, Japheth read ⁵₇ of a fiction book. On Friday, he read 32 pages of the fiction book. On Saturday, he read ³₅ of the remaining book leaving 8 pages unread.

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

(a)
Number of remaining unread pages after reading on Friday = 5 u

Number of remaining unread pages after reading on Saturday
= 5 u - 3 u
= 2 u

2 u = 8

1 u = 8 ÷ 2 = 4

Number of pages that Japheth read on Saturday
= 3 u
= 3 x 4
= 12

(b) 
Working backwards.

Number of pages unread after reading on Friday
= 5 u
= 5 x 4
= 20

Total number of pages in the fiction book = 7 p

Number of pages unread after reading on Thursday 
= 7 p - 5 p
= 2 p

2 p = 32 + 20
2 p = 52

1 p = 52 ÷ 2 = 26

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

Answer(s): (a) 12; (b) 182