Geometry and measures worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.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.

2.A hexagonal prism lies on a table. A flat cut is made straight across it, at right angles to its length (so the cut is parallel to the two identical end faces). What shape is the cross-section?

3.Two vertical masts stand on level ground, 40 m apart. One mast is 30 m tall and the other is 50 m tall. Work out the straight-line distance between the tops of the two masts. Give your answer to 1 decimal place.

4.Work out the distance between the points (−3, 4) and (5, −2).

5.A rectangular garden gate is 3 m wide and 4 m high. A straight brace runs from one corner of the gate to the opposite corner. Work out the length of the brace.

6.The sum of the interior angles of a polygon is 1980°. Work out the number of sides of the polygon.

7.A garden is made of two triangular flower beds, ABC and ACD, joined along the edge AC. In triangle ABC, angle ABC = 90°, AB = 5 m and BC = 12 m. In triangle ACD, AD = 9 m and angle CAD = 40°, the angle between AC and AD. Work out the area of flower bed ACD. Give your answer to 1 decimal place.

8.In a construction, a point P is marked at the foot of the perpendicular drawn from point X to a straight line. Which statement correctly compares the distance XP with the distance from X to any other point on the line?

9.In triangle ABC, AB = 9 cm, AC = 6 cm and angle BAC = 110°. Work out the length of BC. Give your answer to 1 decimal place.

10.A kite ABCD is symmetrical about the diagonal AC, with AB = AD = 6 cm and CB = CD = 9 cm. Angle ABC = 100°. By splitting the kite into two congruent triangles along AC, work out the area of the whole kite. Give your answer to 1 decimal place.

11.Two sides of a triangle are 9 cm and 15 cm long. Write down which one of these lengths is possible for the third side.

12.A triangular sail for a small boat has a base of 2.4 m and a height of 1.75 m. Sailcloth costs £12.50 per m². Work out the total cost of the sailcloth needed for the sail.

13.A circular garden pond has a diameter of 5 m. A gardener is laying gravel around it in a ring-shaped path 1 m wide, measured outward from the edge of the pond. Work out the area of the gravel path. Use π = 3.14.

14.A map has a scale of 1 : 20 000. The distance between two villages is 3.4 km in real life. How long is this distance on the map, in centimetres?

15.In one circle, chord PQ is 6 cm long, chord RS is 10 cm long, chord TU is 14 cm long and chord VW is 15 cm long. Write down which of these chords lies closest to the centre of the circle.