Ratio, proportion and rates of change worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.A laptop costs £800 when new. Its value decreases by 25% of its value at the start of each year. Work out how much value the laptop loses in the second year.

2.Leah puts £4000 into a savings account paying 3% compound interest each year. At the end of 2 years she takes out all of the money and spends £1500 of it on a laptop. Work out how much of the money she has left.

3.The height of a candle, in cm, is measured as it burns: t = 0 min, height = 20.0; t = 3 min, height = 18.7; t = 5 min, height = 17.5; t = 6 min, height = 16.6; t = 7 min, height = 15.4; t = 9 min, height = 13.4. Which pair of readings gives the best estimate of the instantaneous rate of change of the height at t = 6 minutes, and why?

4.Write 350 ml : 1.4 l as a ratio in its simplest form.

5.y is always the same multiple of x. When x = 6, y = 15. Work out the value of y when x = 10.

6.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.

7.Write 2 m : 150 cm : 50 cm as a ratio of whole numbers in its simplest form.

8.A statue exerts a downward force of 68.4 N on its base, which has an area of 2.85 m². Work out the pressure that the statue exerts on its base, in N/m².

9.A cordial drink is made by mixing cordial concentrate and water in the ratio 1 : 6. Freya says that a 700 ml jug of this drink contains 100 ml of concentrate. Is she correct? Give a reason for your answer.

10.A mortar mix is made from sand and cement in the ratio 5 : 3. Write the ratio of sand to the total mix in its simplest form.

11.In a fruit squash mix, the ratio of squash to water is 2 : 9. A shop wants to make up the mix using 3.4 litres of squash. Work out how many litres of water are needed.

12.Two broadband providers show their monthly cost on straight-line graphs, with the cost in pounds on the vertical axis and the data used in gigabytes on the horizontal axis. Provider X's line passes through (0, 15) and (100, 35). Provider Y's line passes through (0, 5) and (100, 45). Work out which provider is cheaper for a customer who uses 40 gigabytes in a month.

13.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.

14.An online shop's total number of orders received is recorded at the end of each day for five consecutive days: Day 1, 1,284 orders; Day 2, 1,509 orders; Day 3, 1,830 orders; Day 4, 2,296 orders; Day 5, 2,510 orders. Work out between which two consecutive days the average rate of increase in orders was greatest.

15.A taxi journey of m miles costs C pounds, where C = 2.5m + 3. A driver says the ratio C : m is the same for every journey. Is the driver correct? Give a reason for your answer.