On Thursday, Will read ²₅ of a fiction book. On Friday, he read 48 pages of the fiction book. On Saturday, he read ⁵₇ of the remaining book leaving 18 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 = 7 u

Number of remaining unread pages after reading on Saturday
= 7 u - 5 u
= 2 u

2 u = 18

1 u = 18 ÷ 2 = 9

Number of pages that Will read on Saturday
= 5 u
= 5 x 9
= 45

(b) 
Working backwards.

Number of pages unread after reading on Friday
= 7 u
= 7 x 9
= 63

Total number of pages in the fiction book = 5 p

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

3 p = 48 + 63
3 p = 111

1 p = 111 ÷ 3 = 37

Total number of pages in the fiction book
= 5 p
= 5 x 37
= 185

Answer(s): (a) 45; (b) 185