Algebra worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.A car is decelerating. The tangent to its velocity-time graph at t = 12 seconds passes through the points (8, 22) and (16, 6), where velocity is in m/s and time is in seconds. Work out the gradient of this tangent, in m/s².

2.By completing the square, find the turning point of the curve y = 3x² + 12x + 7.

3.An exponential model has equation y = A × bˣ, where b > 1. Its graph passes through the points (1, 135) and (2, 405). Work out the value of A.

4.Ethan is 10 years old and his father is 40 years old. Work out how many years ago Ethan's father was seven times as old as Ethan.

5.Four sequences are shown below. Sequence P: 4, 8, 16, 32, ... Sequence Q: 4, 8, 12, 16, ... Sequence R: 4, 7, 12, 19, ... Sequence S: 4, 9, 16, 25, ... Work out which of the sequences P, Q, R and S is geometric.

6.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.

7.An exponential graph y = A × rˣ passes through the points (0, 8) and (2, 18). Work out the value of r, correct to 2 decimal places.

8.Work out the value of 5m² + 3m when m = −2.4

9.A scout leader is 44 years old and one of the scouts is 16 years old. Work out how many years it will be until the leader is exactly twice as old as the scout.

10.The iterative formula xₙ₊₁ = 5 − 3/xₙ is used with starting value x₀ = 2.5, so that x₁ is the value after the formula has been used once. Work out x₄ correct to 3 significant figures.

11.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.

12.A company's weekly profit, in £, is modelled by y = f(x), where x is the number of weeks since launch. The graph of y = f(x) has a maximum at (10, 45000). A rival company uses the same marketing strategy but starts trading 6 weeks later and has fixed costs £8000 higher every week, so its profit is modelled by y = f(x − 6) − 8000. In which week does the rival's maximum weekly profit occur, and what is it?

13.The graph of P = 480 ÷ V shows how the pressure, P pascals, of a gas depends on its volume, V cm³, at constant temperature. Use the relationship to work out the volume when the pressure is 32 pascals, and then work out by how much the volume increases when the pressure drops to 24 pascals.

14.Solve 2x² − 32 = 0.

15.A rectangular photo has length (x + 3) cm and width x cm. Its area is 40 cm². Work out the value of x.