Ratio, proportion and rates of change worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.The height of a ball, in metres, above the ground is plotted against time, in seconds, after it is thrown. The tangent to the graph at t = 1.5 seconds has gradient 2. Which of these four statements about the ball at t = 1.5 seconds is correct?

2.In a class, 50% of the students study French, 30% study Spanish and the rest study German. Write down the ratio of French : Spanish : German students, in its simplest form.

3.A model car is built at a scale of 1 : 20 compared with the real car. Work out the factor by which the surface area to be painted on the real car is bigger than the surface area of the model.

4.A conversion graph between kilometres and miles passes through the origin and the point (50, 31), with the number of kilometres on the horizontal axis and the number of miles on the vertical axis. Work out the number of miles equivalent to 1 kilometre.

5.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?

6.A train journey takes 2 hours 15 minutes. A bus journey to the same place takes 3 hours 45 minutes. Write the time for the train journey as a fraction of the time for the bus journey, giving your answer in its simplest form.

7.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.

8.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.

9.The price of a share falls by 10% on Monday and then rises by 10% on Tuesday. Work out the overall percentage change from Monday's starting price.

10.In one batch of shortbread, a bakery uses 240 g of butter and 160 g of sugar. Another batch, made in the same ratio, uses 90 g of sugar. Work out how much butter is needed for the second batch.

11.y is directly proportional to x. When x = 7, the value of y is 21. Work out the value of x when y = 12.

12.Line P passes through the origin and the point (3, 21). Line Q passes through the origin and the point (5, 45). Both lines represent the distance, in metres, run by an athlete against the time, in seconds. Work out the gradient of the steeper line.

13.A box holds 60 crayons. 25 of the crayons are broken and the rest are unbroken. Write the number of unbroken crayons as a fraction of the number of broken crayons. Give your answer in its simplest form.

14.In a mix of mortar the ratio of the mass of sand to the mass of cement is 5 : 2. Write the mass of cement as a fraction of the total mass of the mix.

15.Two mathematically similar cubes have edge lengths 2 cm and 6 cm. Write the ratio of the volume of the smaller cube to the volume of the larger cube in its simplest form.