On Thursday, Tommy read ⁴₇ of a textbook. On Friday, he read 26 pages of the textbook. On Saturday, he read ⁵₈ of the remaining book leaving 51 pages unread.

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

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

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

3 u = 51

1 u = 51 ÷ 3 = 17

Number of pages that Tommy read on Saturday
= 5 u
= 5 x 17
= 85

(b) 
Working backwards.

Number of pages unread after reading on Friday
= 8 u
= 8 x 17
= 136

Total number of pages in the textbook = 7 p

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

3 p = 26 + 136
3 p = 162

1 p = 162 ÷ 3 = 54

Total number of pages in the textbook
= 7 p
= 7 x 54
= 378

Answer(s): (a) 85; (b) 378