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.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.

3.A company's turnover was £128 000 in 2023 and £176 000 in 2024. Work out the multiplier that changes the 2023 turnover into the 2024 turnover.

4.A train travels at a constant speed of 90 km/h. Work out the speed in m/s.

5.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.

6.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.

7.A printer's ink cartridge level, I millilitres, is plotted against the number of pages printed, p, and the points lie on a straight line. The line passes through (0, 24) and (300, 9). The printer has now printed 300 pages. Work out how many more pages it can print before the cartridge is empty.

8.Two mathematically similar jugs have heights 8 cm and 12 cm. The smaller jug holds 200 ml when it is full. Work out how much the larger jug holds when it is full.

9.The number of tickets a group can afford is inversely proportional to the price per ticket. At £4 per ticket, the group can afford 12 tickets. Work out how many tickets the group can afford at £6 per ticket.

10.A stall sells bottles of juice. Two bottles cost £3.00, five bottles cost £7.50 and eight bottles cost £12.00. The cost, C pounds, is in a fixed ratio to the number of bottles, n. Write down a formula for C in terms of n.

11.The number of subscribers to a streaming app, in thousands, is plotted against time, in months since launch. A tangent to the graph at t = 6 months has gradient 4.8. A tangent at t = 18 months has gradient 1.1. A manager claims the app is growing faster at 18 months than it was at 6 months. Work out how the growth rate has changed, and decide whether the manager is correct.

12.A greenhouse's temperature, in °C, is recorded every hour during the day: 09:00, 15.0; 10:00, 18.4; 11:00, 20.1; 12:00, 19.8; 13:00, 17.2. Work out between which two consecutive readings the instantaneous rate of change of the temperature is most likely to have been zero.

13.A toy manufacturer makes a model aircraft that is mathematically similar to the real aircraft, at a scale of 1 : 48. The wingspan of the model is 15 cm. Work out the wingspan of the real aircraft, giving your answer in metres.

14.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.

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.