On Monday, Ivan read ⁵₈ of a fiction book. On Tuesday, he read 16 pages of the fiction book. On Wednesday, he read ³₈ of the remaining book leaving 50 pages unread.

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

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

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

5 u = 50

1 u = 50 ÷ 5 = 10

Number of pages that Ivan read on Wednesday
= 3 u
= 3 x 10
= 30

(b) 
Working backwards.

Number of pages unread after reading on Tuesday
= 8 u
= 8 x 10
= 80

Total number of pages in the fiction book = 8 p

Number of pages unread after reading on Monday 
= 8 p - 5 p
= 3 p

3 p = 16 + 80
3 p = 96

1 p = 96 ÷ 3 = 32

Total number of pages in the fiction book
= 8 p
= 8 x 32
= 256

Answer(s): (a) 30; (b) 256