Ratio, proportion and rates of change worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.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.

2.Given that 1 mile ≈ 1.6 km, work out a speed of 55 mph in km/h.

3.An ice-cream van's daily takings, in £, are modelled by a curve plotted against the average temperature that day, in °C. At a temperature of 22°C, the gradient of the tangent to this curve is 14. What does this gradient tell you about the takings at 22°C?

4.y is directly proportional to x. When x = 4, y = 10. Work out the value of y when x = 6.

5.A printer prints at a constant rate. The time taken to print a batch of forms is inversely proportional to the printer's speed, in pages per minute. Printing at 20 pages per minute takes 15 minutes. Work out how long the same batch takes to print at 25 pages per minute. Give your answer in minutes.

6.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.

7.Last week Priya worked 5 shifts of 7 hours. This week she worked 4 shifts of 8 hours. Write the number of hours she worked last week as a fraction of the number of hours she worked this week.

8.A dog walker's charge, C pounds, for walking a dog for m minutes is shown on a straight-line graph. The line passes through the points (20, 14) and (50, 26). Work out the charge for a 65-minute walk.

9.Two mathematically similar garden ponds have surface areas of 12 m² and 27 m². The fencing needed to go around the smaller pond costs £96. Assuming the cost of fencing is proportional to the perimeter of the pond, work out the cost of fencing the larger pond.

10.A sculptor makes two mathematically similar statues. The smaller statue is 20 cm tall and 80 ml of varnish covers its surface. The larger statue is 50 cm tall. Work out how much varnish is needed to cover the surface of the larger statue.

11.6 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.

12.A force of 250 N acts on an area of 0.5 m². Using pressure = force ÷ area, work out the pressure, in pascals.

13.A charity collects donations from adults and children in the ratio 5:2. Altogether, £238 is collected. Work out how much more the adults donate than the children.

14.A hiker's distance from the start of the trail, in kilometres, is plotted against time, in minutes, since she set off. At t = 45 minutes she stops to rest, so her distance from the start is neither increasing nor decreasing at that instant. Which statement about the tangent to the distance–time graph at t = 45 minutes is correct?

15.A 1.5 kg bag of pasta costs £2.85 and a 2.4 kg bag of the same pasta costs £4.32. Work out which bag gives better value for money.