Geometry and measures worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.From an external point P, two tangents PA and PB touch a circle with centre O at the points A and B. Angle APB = 46°. C is a point on the major arc AB, the arc on the opposite side of AB from P. Work out the size of angle ACB.

2.A cuboid has length 3 cm, width 4 cm and height 12 cm. Work out the length of the diagonal that runs from one corner of the cuboid to the opposite corner.

3.A tent's sloping side makes an angle of 45° with the ground. The sloping side is 3√2 m long. Using the exact value of sin 45°, work out the exact height of the tent.

4.A circle has diameter 10 cm. Using π = 3.14, work out the circumference of the circle.

5.A vertical flagpole casts a shadow 6 m long at the same time as a 1.2 m vertical post casts a shadow 1.8 m long. The flagpole and the post are both vertical, and the triangles formed by each object, its shadow, and the sun's ray are similar. Work out the height of the flagpole.

6.A raised garden bed is a prism whose cross-section is a triangle with a base of 1.2 m and a perpendicular height of 0.8 m. The bed is 3 m long. Work out the volume of soil needed to fill it, in m³.

7.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.

8.Triangle T has a vertex at (8, 4). It is enlarged by a scale factor of 1/2, centre (2, 4). Work out the coordinates of the image of this vertex.

9.A hiker starts by walking on a bearing of 245°. She turns clockwise through 50°, then turns clockwise through a further 15°, and continues walking in a straight line. What bearing is she now walking on?

10.u is the column vector with top number 5 and bottom number 1. v is the column vector with top number 2 and bottom number 4. Work out u − v, giving your answer as a column vector in the form (top, bottom).

11.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.

12.A shape is reflected in the line y = −x. Which of these points is invariant under this reflection?

13.In triangle ABC, AB = 12 cm, AC = 7 cm and the area of the triangle is 33 cm². Given that angle BAC is obtuse, 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.Two similar hexagonal tiles have lengths in the ratio 4 : 7. A side of the smaller tile is 8.4 cm long. Work out the length of the corresponding side of the larger tile.