Ratio, proportion and rates of change worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.The value of a delivery van, in £, is plotted against its age, in years, since it was bought. At age 2 years, the gradient of the tangent to the graph is −950. What does this tell you about the van at age 2 years?

2.Two quantities, P and Q, are in inverse proportion. A graph is drawn with P on the vertical axis and Q on the horizontal axis. Write down which description fits the shape of this graph.

3.A cyclist rides 30 km in 1 hour 30 minutes. Work out the average speed of the cyclist in km/h.

4.6 identical taps fill a paddling pool in 20 minutes. Each tap fills at the same steady rate. Work out how long 3 of these taps would take to fill the same pool.

5.A population of fish in a lake is modelled by the recurrence P_{n+1} = 1.1P_n − 30, where P_n is the population after n years, 30 fish are removed by fishing each year, and P_0 = 400. After how many complete years does the population first exceed 460?

6.Water flows into a tank at a constant rate. After 8 minutes the tank holds 200 litres. Write the ratio of time in minutes to volume in litres, in its simplest form.

7.Ffion is paid £11.20 per hour. She works 6 hours on Monday and 4.5 hours on Tuesday. Work out her total pay for the two days.

8.An architect builds a scale model of a staircase before construction. The model is mathematically similar to the real staircase, at a scale of 1 : 10. The model covers a floor area of 0.4 m² on the plan. Work out the floor area the real staircase will cover, giving your answer in m².

9.A tangent to the graph of population against time at the point where t = 4 passes through (2, 180) and (6, 260). Work out the instantaneous rate of change of the population at t = 4, in people per year.

10.A rectangular room is drawn on a plan with a scale of 1 : 50. On the plan, the room measures 8 cm by 6 cm. Work out the real area of the room, in square metres.

11.The manufacturing cost of a specialist lens, in pounds, is proportional to the square root of its diameter, in millimetres. A lens of diameter 9 mm costs £12 to manufacture. Construct the equation connecting cost C and diameter d, then work out the cost of manufacturing a lens of diameter 16 mm.

12.A laptop priced at £520 is first increased by 15%, and then the new price is decreased by 20%. Work out the final price of the laptop.

13.A coach journey of 240 km takes 3 hours. For this fixed distance the average speed needed is inversely proportional to the time taken. Work out the average speed needed to complete the same journey in 2 hours.

14.A force of 126 N acts on an area of 3.5 m². Work out the pressure on the area, in N/m².

15.The strength of a radio signal, in units, is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the transmitter, in km. At a distance of 2 km the signal strength is 20 units. Construct the equation connecting signal strength S and distance d, then work out the distance at which the signal strength is 5 units.