Geometry and measures worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.A garden water trough is a prism whose cross-section is a right-angled triangle with base 40 cm and height 30 cm. The trough is 120 cm long. Work out the volume of water needed to fill the trough completely.

2.Two cylindrical storage tins are geometrically similar. The smaller tin has height 4 cm and the larger tin has height 6 cm. Work out the ratio of the surface area of the smaller tin to the surface area of the larger tin, giving your answer in the form a : b in its simplest form.

3.A ship's radar can detect other ships up to 20 km away, over a sector-shaped area with angle 90°. A monitoring company charges £0.50 per square kilometre covered by one radar sweep. Using π = 3.14, work out the total charge for one sweep.

4.A triangular sail for a small boat has two sides of 4.2 m and 3.6 m, with an angle of 115° between them. One litre of waterproofing paint covers 3 m² of sail. Work out the least number of whole tins of paint (1 litre each) needed to cover the sail.

5.Shape S is enlarged by a scale factor of −3 about a fixed centre. Which statement correctly describes the image compared to the original shape?

6.In triangle OAB, OA = a and OB = b. P lies on AB such that AP is twice PB. Express the vector OP in terms of a and b.

7.A flagpole is 12 m tall. Freya stands 9 m from the base of the flagpole on level ground. Work out the angle of elevation of the top of the flagpole from where Freya stands. Give your answer correct to 1 decimal place.

8.Two similar company logos are printed at different sizes. The area of the larger logo is 2.25 times the area of the smaller logo. Work out the length scale factor from the smaller logo to the larger logo.

9.A trapezium has an area of 45 cm², a perpendicular height of 5 cm, and one parallel side of length 10 cm. Work out the length of the other parallel side.

10.A sailmaker cuts two triangular sail panels from a pattern. Panel X has a 10 m side, with angles of 50° and 75° at its two ends. Panel Y also has a 10 m side, with angles of 50° and 75° at its two ends, in the same arrangement. The sailmaker wants to check the panels will match exactly, without cutting a third measurement. Which condition proves the two panels are congruent?

11.In triangle ABC, AB = 7.4 cm, AC = 5.9 cm and angle BAC = 68°. Work out the length of BC. Give your answer to 1 decimal place.

12.A ship's radar shows a lighthouse at the point (12, −4) on a grid measured in nautical miles. The ship is at (2, 5). The ship sails along the vector that takes it directly to the lighthouse, then sails along that same vector again. Work out the ship's final position.

13.In triangle ABC, angle ABC = 47°, AC = 12.5 cm and BC = 9.2 cm. Work out the size of angle BAC. Give your answer to 1 decimal place.

14.The area of triangle ABC is 42 cm². AB = 9.5 cm and angle BAC = 61°. Work out the length of AC. Give your answer to 1 decimal place.

15.The bearing of a harbour B from a ferry's position A is 260°. What is the bearing of A from B?