Geometry and measures worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.A cube has edges of length 5 cm. Work out the length of the diagonal that runs from one corner of the cube to the opposite corner. Give your answer as a surd in its simplest form.

2.A garden flower bed is in the shape of a trapezium. Its two parallel edges are 3.5 m and 6.5 m long, and the perpendicular distance between them is 4 m. Bedding plants cost £2.50 per square metre to cover the bed. Work out the total cost of the bedding plants.

3.A square-based pyramid has a square base and four identical triangular sloping faces, with its apex directly above the centre of the base. How many planes of symmetry does it have?

4.In triangle ABC the angle at C is 90° and the hypotenuse AB is 12 cm. H is the point on AB for which CH is perpendicular to AB, and AH = 3 cm. Work out the length of AC.

5.A drone flies from its base in three stages, each stage measured in metres east and north as a column vector. Stage 1 is the column vector with top number 30 and bottom number 40. Stage 2 is the column vector with top number −10 and bottom number 20. Stage 3 is the column vector with top number 15 and bottom number −5. Work out the column vector that would take the drone in a single straight flight back to its base from where it ends up.

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

7.A straight line crosses a pair of parallel lines. One of the co-interior (allied) angles is 118°. Work out the size of the other co-interior angle.

8.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.

9.A picture frame is a rhombus with a diagonal of 16 cm and a diagonal of 12 cm. The two diagonals meet at right angles at their midpoints. Work out the length of one side of the rhombus.

10.A trapezium-shaped allotment plot has two parallel sides that face each other, and two sloping sides that are equal in length (an isosceles trapezium). One of the angles next to the shorter parallel side is 118°. Work out the angle next to the other end of the same shorter parallel side.

11.A rectangle has vertices at (2, 1), (9, 1), (9, 5) and (2, 5). Work out the area of the rectangle.

12.OABC is a parallelogram, with OA = a and OC = c. X is the midpoint of the diagonal AC. Express the vector OX in terms of a and c, and use it to show that X also lies on the diagonal OB.

13.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?

14.Triangle PQR has angle P = 90°. The side PQ = 9 cm and the hypotenuse QR = 15 cm. Work out the length of PR.

15.P is the point (3, 4) and Q is the point (6, 0). Work out the distance of each point from the origin, and write down which point is closer to the origin.