Question

On the first day of vacation, you read one-quarter of a novel. On the second day, you read half of the remaining pages. On the third day, you read the last 108 pages of the novel.
How many pages does the novel have?
How many pages did you read by the end of the second day?

Answer 1

A] Let the total number of pages be x, this is equivalent to 1/1
The fraction of novel read on the first day is 1/4 
The remaining fraction of pages will be:
1/1-1/4=3/4
Fraction read on the second day:
1/2×3/4=3/8
The remaining fraction will be:
1-(3/8+1/4)
=1-5/8
=3/8
Thus the fraction read on the third day is 3/8:
therefore:
3/8 represents 108 hence:
x=(1/1)/(3/8)×108
x=288 pages

b] The number of pages read on the second day will be:
(total number of pages)×(fraction of pages read on the second day)
total number of pages=288
fraction read on the second day=3/8
hence number of pages read on this date will be:

=288×3/8
=108