On Thursday, Nick read ⁴₇ of a non-fiction book. On Friday, he read 41 pages of the non-fiction book. On Saturday, he read ⁵₇ of the remaining book leaving 32 pages unread.

1. Find the number of pages read on Saturday.
2. Find the total number of pages in the non-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 = 32

1 u = 32 ÷ 2 = 16

Number of pages that Nick read on Saturday
= 5 u
= 5 x 16
= 80

(b) 
Working backwards.

Number of pages unread after reading on Friday
= 7 u
= 7 x 16
= 112

Total number of pages in the non-fiction book = 7 p

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

3 p = 41 + 112
3 p = 153

1 p = 153 ÷ 3 = 51

Total number of pages in the non-fiction book
= 7 p
= 7 x 51
= 357

Answer(s): (a) 80; (b) 357