Number worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.A plane flies 2340 km at an average speed of 780 km/h. It departs at 08:20. Work out the arrival time, using the 24-hour clock.

2.A machine fills bags of sugar and shows the mass of each bag to the nearest 10 g. A checker rejects any bag whose actual mass is less than 996 g. One bag shows a mass of 1,000 g on the machine. Decide whether this bag could be rejected, and give a reason for your answer.

3.A digital timer truncates every time to 1 decimal place. It shows a swimmer's time for one length as 12.3 seconds. Using t for the swimmer's actual time in seconds, write down the error interval for t.

4.A charity raises 8 × 10⁶ pounds. This total is shared equally among 2 × 10² local projects. Work out how much each project receives, in standard form.

5.A market trader buys 8 melons at £1.35 each. He sells all of them for a total of £15.60. Work out his profit.

6.A jumper is reduced by 15% in a sale to a price of £42.50. Work out the original price.

7.The density of a type of plastic is 0.9 g/cm³. Work out this density in kg/m³.

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

9.A shop buys boxes of pens for £4 each. It sells each box on to a school for £3 more than it paid, and charges an extra £2 delivery fee for the whole order. A school orders 5 boxes. Work out the total cost of the order.

10.A gym increases its membership price by 1/5. The original price is £60. Work out the new price.

11.A plank of wood is 5 1/4 m long. Pieces of length 3/4 m are cut from it. Work out how many complete pieces of 3/4 m can be cut from the plank.

12.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.

13.To estimate the cost of buying 38.7 m of rope at £21.40 per metre, both numbers are first rounded to 1 significant figure. Work out the estimate.

14.The length of a pencil is 8.4 cm, correct to 1 decimal place. Using L for the length of the pencil in centimetres, write down the error interval for L.

15.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.