Ratio, proportion and rates of change worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.A map has a scale of 1 : 20 000. A different map of the same area has a scale of 1 : 80 000. A lake's shoreline is drawn 5 cm long on the first map. Work out the length of the same shoreline on the second map, in centimetres.

2.The value of a delivery van, in £, is plotted against its age, in years, since it was bought. At age 2 years, the gradient of the tangent to the graph is −950. What does this tell you about the van at age 2 years?

3.A recipe for 8 people needs 320 g of rice. Sanjay scales the recipe down to serve 5 people, then wants to scale his new amount back up to serve 8 people again. Work out the multiplier he should use to scale his amount for 5 people back up to the amount for 8 people.

4.A baker uses 450 g of flour and 300 g of butter in a batch of pastry. Write the mass of butter as a fraction of the total mass of flour and butter, in its simplest form.

5.A concrete block exerts a force of 45 N on the ground through a base with an area of 0.05 m². Work out the pressure on the ground, in N/m².

6.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.

7.A garden centre sells two mathematically similar sacks of grass seed. The amount of lawn a sack can treat is proportional to the volume of seed inside it. The smaller sack is 20 cm tall and treats a lawn of area 30 m². The larger sack is 40 cm tall. A gardener needs to treat a lawn with an area of 500 m² using only the larger sacks. Work out the minimum number of larger sacks needed.

8.A metal alloy is made from copper and tin in the ratio 7:3. Work out the mass of tin in 250 g of the alloy.

9.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.

10.A recipe needs 1.2 kg of flour. Dan has 750 g of flour in his cupboard. Write the mass of flour the recipe needs as a fraction of the mass of flour Dan has. Give your answer in its simplest form.

11.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.

12.A cyclist rides 19.3 km in 47 minutes. Work out her average speed, in km/h, to 1 decimal place.

13.Two scale plans of the same football pitch are drawn: Plan A has a scale of 1 : 1000 and Plan B has a scale of 1 : 200. A pitch length is 8 cm on Plan A. Work out the length of the same pitch on Plan B, in centimetres.

14.x × y is used to test whether two quantities are in inverse proportion. For the pairs x = 4, y = 15 and x = 6, y = 10, which statement is correct?

15.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.