Ratio, proportion and rates of change worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.A firework rocket's height above the ground, in metres, t seconds after launch, is modelled by h = 30t − 5t². Use a chord between t = 1 second and t = 3 seconds to estimate the instantaneous rate of change of the height at t = 2 seconds, in m/s.

2.A car is bought for £17,500. Its value decreases by 12% in the first year, and by a further 10% of its reduced value in the second year. Work out the value of the car at the end of the second year, giving your answer to the nearest pound.

3.Two mathematically similar water bottles have a volume scale factor of 8 from the smaller bottle to the larger bottle. Work out the surface area scale factor from the smaller bottle to the larger bottle.

4.The cost, in pounds, of hiring a minibus is modelled against the number of passengers booked. A tangent to the cost graph at 20 passengers passes through the points (16, 184) and (24, 216). Work out the instantaneous rate at which the cost increases with each extra passenger, at 20 passengers.

5.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.

6.x × y is used to test whether two quantities are in inverse proportion. For the pairs x = 4, y = 15 and x = 6, y = 10, which statement is correct?

7.Two printers' running costs are shown on separate straight-line graphs of total cost against number of pages printed. Printer A's graph has gradient £0.04 per page. Printer B's graph has gradient £0.05 per page. Work out how much cheaper it is to print 200 pages on Printer A than on Printer B, based on these running costs alone.

8.Two mathematically similar cylinders have volumes 64 cm³ and 216 cm³. Work out the ratio of the height of the smaller cylinder to the height of the larger cylinder, in simplest form.

9.Two mathematically similar hexagonal tiles have areas 18 cm² and 50 cm². Work out the ratio of the side length of the smaller tile to the side length of the larger tile, in simplest form.

10.The volume of fuel remaining in a storage tank, in thousands of litres, is plotted against time, in hours, since a leak was detected. A tangent to the graph at t = 2 hours has gradient −8.75 thousand litres per hour. A tangent at t = 8 hours has gradient −3.5 thousand litres per hour. Work out by what factor the instantaneous rate of change is greater in size at t = 2 hours than at t = 8 hours.

11.A mobile phone tariff is shown on a straight-line graph with the monthly cost, C pounds, on the vertical axis and the amount of data used, g gigabytes, on the horizontal axis. The line passes through (0, 10) and (8, 26). Work out the gradient and say what it represents.

12.A tank is filled at a rate of 3 litres every 2 minutes. Given that 1 litre = 1000 cm³, work out the flow rate in cm³ per minute.

13.The mass of a length of copper pipe is proportional to its length. A pipe of length 4.5 m has a mass of 12.6 kg. Work out the mass of a pipe of the same type of length 9.5 m.

14.A shop's takings were £4500 in May. In June the takings fell by £900. Write the June takings as a fraction of the May takings, in its simplest form.

15.The amount of fuel left in a car's tank, F litres, is plotted against the distance travelled, d miles, and the points lie on a straight line. The line passes through (0, 45) and (150, 15). Work out the gradient of the line and say what it tells you.