Number worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.The diameter of an artificial silk fibre is 4 × 10⁻⁶ metres. One nanometre is 10⁻⁹ metres. Work out the diameter of the fibre in nanometres.

2.The radius of a circular pond is given as 3.2 m, correct to 1 decimal place. Calculate the upper bound for the area of the pond, giving your answer correct to 3 significant figures.

3.A driving instructor is working out how many current-style UK number plates are possible. The format is 2 letters, then 2 digits, then a space, then 3 letters (for example AB12 CDE). The letters I, O and Q are never used in any letter position, leaving 23 allowed letters, but every letter and every digit may repeat anywhere on the plate. Work out how many different number plates are possible, giving your answer in standard form to 2 significant figures.

4.Rice is sold in a 400 g bag for £1.12 and in a 1.5 kg bag for £3.90. Work out how much less the rice in the larger bag costs per kilogram.

5.Put these numbers in order, starting with the smallest: 3.2 × 10⁴, 2.9 × 10⁵, 4.1 × 10³

6.The number of visitors to a museum on Saturday is given as 1,800, correct to the nearest 100. Which of these could not be the actual number of visitors?

7.Four friends share a restaurant bill of £53.90 equally. A calculator gives each share as 13.475. Work out how much each friend should pay.

8.A country's population is 8,340,000, and it is estimated that 1,950,000 of them live in the capital city. By rounding each number to 1 significant figure, work out an estimate for the number of people who do not live in the capital city.

9.A red blood cell has a diameter of about 7 × 10⁻⁶ metres. A virus has a diameter about 100 times smaller. Work out the diameter of the virus. Give your answer in standard form.

10.A cheetah runs at a steady speed of 25 metres per second. Work out this speed in kilometres per hour.

11.A courier's van has a weight limit of 850 kg for its parcels. The driver's display shows the total mass of the parcels loaded as 850 kg, correct to the nearest 5 kg. Decide whether the parcels are definitely within the weight limit.

12.The thickness of a sheet of card is 0.02384 cm. Write this thickness correct to 2 significant figures.

13.The density of a metal is calculated using density = mass ÷ volume. A sample has a mass of 156 g, correct to the nearest gram, and a volume of 12 cm³, correct to the nearest cm³. Work out the minimum possible density, in g/cm³.

14.A car travels 100 km, correct to the nearest km, in a time of 2 hours, correct to the nearest 0.1 hour. Work out the average speed, in km/h, to the greatest degree of accuracy the bounds can guarantee.

15.Work out (8 × 10⁻⁵) × (5 × 10³). Give your answer in standard form.