On Tuesday, Howard read ²₅ of a non-fiction book. On Wednesday, he read 17 pages of the non-fiction book. On Thursday, he read ⁴₇ of the remaining book leaving 30 pages unread.

1. Find the number of pages read on Thursday.
2. Find the total number of pages in the non-fiction book.

(a)
Number of remaining unread pages after reading on Wednesday = 7 u

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

3 u = 30

1 u = 30 ÷ 3 = 10

Number of pages that Howard read on Thursday
= 4 u
= 4 x 10
= 40

(b) 
Working backwards.

Number of pages unread after reading on Wednesday
= 7 u
= 7 x 10
= 70

Total number of pages in the non-fiction book = 5 p

Number of pages unread after reading on Tuesday 
= 5 p - 2 p
= 3 p

3 p = 17 + 70
3 p = 87

1 p = 87 ÷ 3 = 29

Total number of pages in the non-fiction book
= 5 p
= 5 x 29
= 145

Answer(s): (a) 40; (b) 145