On Wednesday, Gabriel read ⁵₇ of a story book. On Thursday, he read 46 pages of the story book. On Friday, he read ³₇ of the remaining book leaving 24 pages unread.

1. Find the number of pages read on Friday.
2. Find the total number of pages in the story book.

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

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

4 u = 24

1 u = 24 ÷ 4 = 6

Number of pages that Gabriel read on Friday
= 3 u
= 3 x 6
= 18

(b) 
Working backwards.

Number of pages unread after reading on Thursday
= 7 u
= 7 x 6
= 42

Total number of pages in the story book = 7 p

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

2 p = 46 + 42
2 p = 88

1 p = 88 ÷ 2 = 44

Total number of pages in the story book
= 7 p
= 7 x 44
= 308

Answer(s): (a) 18; (b) 308