Ratio, proportion and rates of change worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.The ratio of the number of pages Mia has read to the number of pages Leo has read is 7 : 4. Mia has read 84 pages. Work out how many pages they have read altogether.

2.A water butt is being filled from a hosepipe at a constant rate while a small leak drains water out at a constant rate, giving a constant net rate of change. The volume of water in the butt, V litres, is shown on a straight-line graph against time, t minutes. The line passes through the points (5, 20) and (15, 60). The butt is empty at t = 0. Work out how many minutes it takes to reach a volume of 100 litres.

3.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.

4.The manufacturing cost of a specialist lens, in pounds, is proportional to the square root of its diameter, in millimetres. A lens of diameter 9 mm costs £12 to manufacture. Construct the equation connecting cost C and diameter d, then work out the cost of manufacturing a lens of diameter 16 mm.

5.Two mathematically similar tins have heights 8 cm and 12 cm. Jayden says that the volume of the larger tin is 1.5 times the volume of the smaller tin. Give a reason why Jayden is incorrect, and work out the correct volume scale factor.

6.A salt solution has a concentration of 10%. The solution contains 50 g of salt. Work out the total mass of the solution.

7.A jug holds 3 litres of a drink that is 60% fruit juice. 1 litre of water is added to the jug. Work out the percentage of the new mixture that is fruit juice.

8.Two quantities x and y are in the ratio x : y = 2 : 5, and y = kx for a constant k. Work out the value of k.

9.A jumper normally costs £45. In a sale it is reduced by 20%. Work out the sale price, then write the sale price as a fraction of the normal price. Give your answer in its simplest form.

10.The ratio of the amount Noah has saved to the amount Grace has saved is 4:5. Noah has saved £200. Work out how much they have saved altogether.

11.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.

12.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?

13.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.

14.A straight line passes through the points (1, 20) and (5, 8). Work out the gradient of the line.

15.A spring's extension is directly proportional to the force applied to it. A force of 5 N produces an extension of 12 mm. Work out the extension produced by a force of 20 N.