Algebra worksheet — GCSE Foundation

1.Amelia's mother is three times as old as Amelia. Four years ago her mother was five times as old as Amelia was then. Work out Amelia's age now.

2.A hiker's distance-time graph shows the following: he walks 5 km in the first 1 hour at a steady speed, rests for 1 hour, then walks a further 9 km in the next 2 hours, also at a steady speed. Work out his average speed for the whole journey, in km/h.

3.A cyclist's distance-time graph shows the following: she travels 12 km in the first 30 minutes at a steady speed, then rests for 30 minutes, then travels a further 8 km in the next 15 minutes. Work out her average speed, in km/h, for the whole journey.

4.A gym charges a joining fee plus a monthly fee. Anna paid £100 in total after 3 months of membership. Ben paid £160 in total after 6 months of membership (same joining fee and monthly fee as Anna). Work out the monthly fee.

5.A car park charges by the hour. Parking for 1 hour costs £5, 2 hours costs £9, 3 hours costs £13 and 4 hours costs £17, with the cost increasing by the same amount for each extra hour. Work out an expression, in terms of n, for the cost, in pounds, of parking for n hours.

6.Solve the inequality 2(3x − 1) ≥ 4x + 8.

7.A plumber charges a call-out fee of £30 plus £25 for each hour worked. The total bill for a job was £130. Work out how many hours the plumber worked.

8.A ball's height, h metres, t seconds after being thrown follows h = (t − 1)(9 − t). Given that the ball is at ground level at t = 1 and t = 9, work out at what time t the ball reaches its maximum height, using symmetry.

9.The formula connecting speed, distance and time is v = s ÷ t. Work out v, in km/h, when s = 180 and t = 4.

10.Two numbers have a sum of 45. The larger number is 9 more than the smaller number. Form an equation using n for the smaller number, and solve it to find the larger number.

11.A ball is thrown in the air. Its height, h metres, above the ground after t seconds is given in this table: when t = 0, h = 0; when t = 1, h = 15; when t = 2, h = 20; when t = 3, h = 15; when t = 4, h = 0. Use the table to find the two times, in seconds, at which the ball is at ground level.

12.Which expression is equivalent to 0.5(4x + 6) − x?

13.Which expression means the same as a × a × a?

14.Six years ago Harry was three times as old as his brother Leo. Harry is now 24 years old. Work out Leo's age now.

15.A regular hexagon has sides of length (x + 2) cm. Write down an expression, in terms of x, for the perimeter of the hexagon.