Ratio, proportion and rates of change worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.A population of penguins on an island is 2400. The population is predicted to grow by 7% each year. Work out the predicted population after 2 years, to the nearest whole number.

2.A cyclist rides at a steady speed of 20 mph. Given that 1 mile ≈ 1.6 km, work out the cyclist's speed in km/h.

3.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.

4.A tangent to a distance–time graph, with distance in kilometres and time in minutes, has gradient 0.78 kilometres per minute at a particular point. Work out the instantaneous rate of change of distance with time, in kilometres per hour.

5.A scale drawing of a park has a scale of 1 : 2500. On the drawing, the distance between the entrance and the lake is 4.4 cm. A jogger runs from the entrance to the lake and then back to the entrance. Work out the total distance the jogger runs, in kilometres.

6.A loan of £3000 has interest added at 2% each month, and then a fixed repayment of £200 is made. This is modelled by the recurrence B_{n+1} = 1.02B_n − 200, where B_n is the balance after n months and B_0 = 3000. Work out the balance after 2 months.

7.A cartographer is choosing a scale for a map to show a small park in as much detail as possible. Which of these scales would show the MOST detail — 1 : 500, 1 : 5000, or 1 : 50 000? Give the correct scale and reason.

8.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.

9.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.

10.Two mathematically similar rectangles have widths 5 cm and 10 cm. The perimeter of the smaller rectangle is 18 cm. Work out the perimeter of the larger rectangle.

11.Two quantities are connected by the formula y = 0.8x. Write down the ratio y : x in its simplest form.

12.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.

13.A furniture maker builds two mathematically similar bookcases. The smaller bookcase is 40 cm tall and uses 2 m² of wood. The larger bookcase is 60 cm tall. Work out the area of wood needed for the larger bookcase, giving your answer in m².

14.Two taxi firms show their charges on straight-line graphs, with the cost in pounds on the vertical axis and the distance in miles on the horizontal axis. Firm A's line passes through (0, 4) and (5, 14). Firm B's line passes through (0, 6) and (5, 21). Work out which firm charges more per mile.

15.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?