Number worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.A van has a mass of 2,000 kg, correct to 1 significant figure. Using m for the mass of the van in kilograms, write down the error interval for m.

2.A quantity surveyor calculates a length as 24.6851 m. Round this length to 2 decimal places.

3.A bag holds 5 different sweets. Noah takes 2 of the sweets out of the bag together, so the order in which he takes them does not matter. Work out how many different pairs of sweets he could take.

4.Ten athletes run in a final. Gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded to the first three athletes to finish, and there are no ties. Work out how many different ways the three medals can be awarded.

5.A recipe needs 0.485 kg of flour per cake. A bakery estimates its flour order by rounding this amount to 1 significant figure, then multiplying by the 60 cakes it plans to bake. Work out the bakery's estimate for the total flour needed, in kg.

6.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.

7.A café is planning its lunch menu. It will offer one soup from 3 choices and one sandwich from 4 choices, but the mushroom soup, one of the 3 soups, will only be served with the cheese sandwich, one of the 4 sandwiches, on a normal day. Work out how many different soup-and-sandwich combinations are available on a normal day.

8.A café offers sandwiches with one filling from 5 choices and one type of bread from 4 choices. Cheese and mustard, which is one of the 5 fillings, is not available on gluten-free bread, which is one of the 4 breads. Work out how many different sandwiches are possible.

9.A school council must choose a committee of 3 pupils from 8 volunteers. The three places on the committee are all the same, so only which pupils are chosen matters. Work out how many different committees could be formed.

10.Work out (4 × 10³) × (3 × 10¹). Give your answer in standard form.

11.A netball team has 8 players. Two of them are chosen to be captains, and the two captains have equal standing. Work out how many different pairs of captains could be chosen.

12.Work out (6 × 10⁷) + (3 × 10⁶). Give your answer in standard form.

13.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.

14.A circle has a radius of 3 cm. Which of these is the exact area of the circle?

15.Light travels at 3 × 10⁸ metres per second. Work out how far light travels in 2 × 10⁻⁶ seconds. Give your answer in standard form.