1) you are assigned to read war and peace for your literature class. the edition you have contains
1232 pages. you time yourself and estimate that you can read 12 pages in one hour. you have 5
days before your exam on this book. will you be able to finish reading it before the exam?

This actually happened to me in sixth grade; I think it was Tale of Two Cities.  We had been practicing speed reading with some crazy machine that projects text on the wall with a moving window that only shows a few words.  I could go really fast, so I calculated I could read the book in a few hours.  After a couple of minutes of trying to read at my supposed rate I faced the fact that I had no idea what the book was about so far.  Anyway,

Rate  = 12 pages/hour

1232 pages / (12 pages per hour) = 102 2/3 hours

You have five days, 5(24)=120 hours, to read that.  Theoretically you could do it. You probably have other things to do over that time as well, like eat and sleep and go to other classes.  So you're not going to finish.

You should get the Cliff notes and read them.  Or just read the first chapter, the last chapter and hope for the best.

well it says right there your brother is 13; "your age". so lets keep it simple. you are 13 years old and there is no way to put this into any kind of equation without wanting to tear your hair out. who came up with this?