Ratio, proportion and rates of change worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.A scale model of a bridge is built at a scale of 1 : 120. The real bridge is 84 m long. Work out the length of the model, in centimetres.

2.A car uses fuel at a constant rate. It uses 24 litres of fuel to travel 300 km. Assuming the same rate, work out how many litres of fuel are needed for a journey of 175 km.

3.The total cost, in pounds, of manufacturing a batch of components is plotted against the number of components produced. A tangent to this graph at a particular point has gradient 3.60. What does the value 3.60 represent?

4.A jug of squash is made by mixing water and syrup in the ratio 6:1. Nia wants to make 8.4 litres of squash. Work out how much syrup she needs, in litres.

5.The concentration of a pollutant in a lake, in arbitrary units, follows the recurrence C_{n+1} = 0.75C_n + 40, with C_0 = 500: each week, 25% of the pollutant breaks down naturally, and then a further 40 units enter the lake from run-off. An ecologist classifies the lake as safe once C_n first drops below 300. Find the first whole number of weeks after which the lake is safe.

6.A garden centre has 90 rose bushes in stock. It receives a delivery that increases its stock of rose bushes by 20%. In the same week it sells 150 lavender bushes. Work out the new number of rose bushes, then write it as a fraction of the number of lavender bushes sold, giving your answer in its simplest form.

7.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.

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

9.A shop's daily profit, in pounds, is plotted against the price charged for an item, in pounds. A tangent to the profit graph at a price of £15 passes through the points (12, 540) and (18, 480). Work out the instantaneous rate of change of profit with respect to price at £15, and state whether profit is increasing or decreasing there.

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.Two mathematically similar picture frames have perimeters 30 cm and 45 cm. The area of the smaller frame is 40 cm². Work out the area of the larger frame.

13.The density of a type of wood is 0.8 g/cm³. Work out the mass of a piece of this wood with a volume of 150 cm³.

14.A pump fills a paddling pool at a rate of 130 litres per hour. Work out the rate in litres per minute, to 2 decimal places.

15.A straight line passes through the points (1, 20) and (5, 8). Work out the gradient of the line.