Ratio, proportion and rates of change worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.A curve has equation y = x² + 2x. Work out the average rate of change of y with respect to x over the interval from x = 1 to x = 4.

2.A company's turnover this year is £180,000. Last year's turnover was £120,000. Write down this year's turnover as a percentage of last year's turnover.

3.The cost of manufacturing a spherical container is proportional to the cube of its radius. A container of radius 3 cm costs £54 to manufacture. Construct the equation connecting cost C and radius r, then work out the cost of a container of radius 5 cm.

4.A sequence is defined by the iterative rule x_{n+1} = 0.5x_n + 20, with x_0 = 0. By working out x_1, x_2 and x_3, find the value that the sequence is approaching.

5.For the pairs x = 6, y = 15 and x = 10, y = 25, which statement is correct?

6.A water butt is being filled from a hosepipe at a constant rate while a small leak drains water out at a constant rate, giving a constant net rate of change. The volume of water in the butt, V litres, is shown on a straight-line graph against time, t minutes. The line passes through the points (5, 20) and (15, 60). The butt is empty at t = 0. Work out how many minutes it takes to reach a volume of 100 litres.

7.Two mathematically similar tins have heights 8 cm and 12 cm. Jayden says that the volume of the larger tin is 1.5 times the volume of the smaller tin. Give a reason why Jayden is incorrect, and work out the correct volume scale factor.

8.It takes 2 identical pumps 10 hours to empty a flooded basement. Working at the same rate, work out how many hours 5 of these pumps would take to empty the same basement.

9.A metal alloy is made from copper and tin in the ratio 9:1. Write the mass of tin as a fraction of the mass of copper, in its simplest form.

10.The value of a rare coin increases by 12% each year. The coin is currently worth £270. Work out the value of the coin after 2 years, giving your answer to the nearest penny.

11.A machine is bought for £8500. Its value depreciates by 6% each year. Work out the value of the machine after 3 years, to the nearest pound.

12.A delivery driver travels 45 km in the first 30 minutes of a journey, and then a further 75 km in the next 1 hour. Work out her average speed for the whole journey, in km/h.

13.The population of a town, P thousand, is plotted against time, t years, since 2020. A tangent to the graph at t = 6 has gradient 2.5. What does this gradient represent?

14.On a straight-line graph the volume of water, V litres, in a tank is plotted on the vertical axis and the time, t minutes, on the horizontal axis. The line passes through (2, 50) and (6, 130). Work out the gradient of the line and give its units.

15.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.