On Monday, Oscar read ⁵₈ of a textbook. On Tuesday, he read 32 pages of the textbook. On Wednesday, he read ³₇ of the remaining book leaving 76 pages unread.

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

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

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

4 u = 76

1 u = 76 ÷ 4 = 19

Number of pages that Oscar read on Wednesday
= 3 u
= 3 x 19
= 57

(b) 
Working backwards.

Number of pages unread after reading on Tuesday
= 7 u
= 7 x 19
= 133

Total number of pages in the textbook = 8 p

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

3 p = 32 + 133
3 p = 165

1 p = 165 ÷ 3 = 55

Total number of pages in the textbook
= 8 p
= 8 x 55
= 440

Answer(s): (a) 57; (b) 440