Ratio, proportion and rates of change worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.A footpath is drawn 3 cm long on a map with a scale of 1 : 50 000. Work out the real length of the footpath, in metres.

2.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.

3.Before a charity campaign, donations were £6400 per month. Donations grew by 8% in the first year after the campaign, and then fell by 3% in the second year as interest faded. Work out the amount donated per month at the end of the second year, to the nearest pound.

4.A population of fish in a lake is modelled by the recurrence P_{n+1} = 1.1P_n − 30, where P_n is the population after n years, 30 fish are removed by fishing each year, and P_0 = 400. After how many complete years does the population first exceed 460?

5.Two mathematically similar cylinders have heights in the ratio 3 : 4. Write the ratio of their volumes in its simplest form.

6.A concert hall has 54 seats in total, of which 24 are reserved and the rest are free. Write the number of free seats as a fraction of the number of reserved seats. Give your answer in its simplest form.

7.A curve has equation y = x² + 2x. Work out the average rate of change of y with respect to x over the interval from x = 1 to x = 4.

8.Write the ratio 0.75 : 2 as a ratio of whole numbers in its simplest form.

9.To make a shade of green paint, the amount of yellow paint used is always 0.75 times the amount of blue paint used. Write the amount of blue paint as a fraction of the amount of yellow paint, in its simplest form.

10.Simplify the ratio 12 : 18 : 30 to its simplest form.

11.Write £3.60 : £2.40 as a ratio in its simplest form.

12.A concrete mix is made from gravel and cement in the ratio 5 : 1 by mass. The mass of cement is c kg and the total mass of the mix is m kg. Write down a formula for m in terms of c.

13.A candidate wants to estimate the instantaneous rate of change of a reservoir's water level, in metres, at t = 5 days after heavy rain began. The reservoir's water level is plotted against time, in days, since the rain began. The candidate uses the chord joining the points at t = 0 days and t = 20 days to estimate the rate of change at t = 5 days. Give a reason why this is likely to be a poor estimate.

14.y is directly proportional to √x. When x = 25, y = 20. Construct the equation connecting x and y, then work out the value of x when y = 32.

15.An ice-cream van's daily takings, in £, are modelled by a curve plotted against the average temperature that day, in °C. At a temperature of 22°C, the gradient of the tangent to this curve is 14. What does this gradient tell you about the takings at 22°C?