Geometry and measures worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.In triangle ABC, AB = 9 cm, BC = 6 cm and angle BAC = 35°. This description fits two different triangles. Work out the two possible sizes of angle ACB, each to 1 decimal place.

2.A shopkeeper builds a display from two cuboid boxes, shown in the diagram. She wants to cover the front of the display with coloured paper. Work out the total area of the front elevation, in square centimetres.

3.A sector of a circle has an angle of 90° and an area of 78.5 cm². Using π = 3.14, work out the radius of the circle.

4.The angle between north and a footpath is 35°, measured clockwise from north. What is the three-figure bearing of the footpath?

5.In triangle ABC, AB = 7 cm, AC = 6 cm and angle ABC = 40°. Two different lengths of BC are possible. Given that BC is the longer of them, work out the length of BC. Give your answer to 1 decimal place.

6.A goat is tied by a rope 7 m long to a post at a corner of a rectangular field, where two fences meet at a right angle. The goat can reach anywhere inside the field that the rope allows. Using π = 3.14, work out the area the goat can graze, to the nearest square metre.

7.A triangular flag has a base of 40 cm and a perpendicular height of 25 cm. Work out its area.

8.A circle has a diameter of 24 cm. A sector of this circle has an angle of 90°. Using π = 3.14, work out the area of the sector.

9.A regular pentagon has centre O. Each vertex is 8 cm from O, and each of the 5 triangles formed by joining O to the vertices is isosceles with an angle of 72° at O. Work out the area of the pentagon. Give your answer to 1 decimal place.

10.In triangle ABC, AB = 6 cm, angle ABC = 40° and AC = 9 cm. Using the sine rule, sin(ACB) = AB × sin(ABC) ÷ AC, which gives two possible values for angle ACB: 25.4° or 154.6° (each to 1 decimal place). By considering the angle sum of the triangle, decide which of these two values angle ACB can actually take, and hence work out angle BAC. Give your answer to 1 decimal place.

11.In triangle PQR, PQ = 11 cm, QR = 7 cm and PR = 13 cm. Work out the size of angle PQR. Give your answer to 1 decimal place.

12.A footpath is 3750 m long. Work out this distance in kilometres.

13.Two similar ponds have perimeters in the ratio 4 : 11. The perimeter of the larger pond is 88 m. Work out the perimeter of the smaller pond.

14.A student is asked to rearrange the cosine rule a² = b² + c² − 2bc cos A to make cos A the subject. They write: cos A = (a² − b² − c²) / (2bc). Is the student's rearrangement correct?

15.A zip wire is fixed at an angle of 50° to the horizontal, running from a high platform down to the ground. The zip wire itself, from the platform to the ground, is 12 m long. Work out the horizontal distance covered by the zip wire. Give your answer correct to 1 decimal place.