Ratio, proportion and rates of change worksheet — GCSE Foundation

1.A garden centre sells two mathematically similar sacks of grass seed. The amount of lawn a sack can treat is proportional to the volume of seed inside it. The smaller sack is 20 cm tall and treats a lawn of area 30 m². The larger sack is 40 cm tall. A gardener needs to treat a lawn with an area of 500 m² using only the larger sacks. Work out the minimum number of larger sacks needed.

2.A fruit punch is made from orange juice, pineapple juice and lemonade in the ratio 5:3:2. A jug holds 3.5 litres of punch in total. Work out the volume of pineapple juice needed.

3.An Ordnance Survey map has a scale of 1 : 50 000. A cycle route measures 9.4 cm on the map. Work out the real length of the route, in kilometres.

4.A laptop is bought for £600. Its value decreases by 20% after 1 year. Work out the value of the laptop after 1 year.

5.A cyclist rides 30 km in 1 hour 30 minutes. Work out the average speed of the cyclist in km/h.

6.Two mathematically similar jugs have heights 8 cm and 12 cm. The smaller jug holds 200 ml when it is full. Work out how much the larger jug holds when it is full.

7.A graph shows y plotted against x. The graph is a curve that gets closer to both axes but never touches them, and y decreases as x increases. Write down whether this graph could show direct proportion, inverse proportion, or neither.

8.Two quantities x and y are in direct proportion. When x = 8, the value of y is 20. Work out the value of y when x = 14.

9.A printer's ink cartridge level, I millilitres, is plotted against the number of pages printed, p, and the points lie on a straight line. The line passes through (0, 24) and (300, 9). The printer has now printed 300 pages. Work out how many more pages it can print before the cartridge is empty.

10.A gym charges members a joining fee plus a fixed amount per month. The total amount paid, C pounds, is shown on a straight-line graph against the number of months, m. The line passes through the points (3, 130) and (7, 210). Work out the total amount a member will have paid after 12 months.

11.Two mathematically similar garden ponds have surface areas of 12 m² and 27 m². The fencing needed to go around the smaller pond costs £96. Assuming the cost of fencing is proportional to the perimeter of the pond, work out the cost of fencing the larger pond.

12.A population of penguins on an island is 2400. The population is predicted to grow by 7% each year. Work out the predicted population after 2 years, to the nearest whole number.

13.A car is bought for £9000. Its value decreases by 8% each year. Work out its value after 2 years.

14.On a straight-line graph the volume of water, V litres, in a tank is plotted on the vertical axis and the time, t minutes, on the horizontal axis. The line passes through (2, 50) and (6, 130). Work out the gradient of the line and give its units.

15.Priya is paid £58.50 for working 7.5 hours on a Saturday. Work out her rate of pay, in £ per hour.