Ratio, proportion and rates of change worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.In a box of pens, 3/7 of the pens are blue and the rest are black. Write down the ratio of the number of blue pens to the number of black pens, in its simplest form.

2.A road sign 3 m tall casts a shadow 5 m long. At the same time, a nearby lamppost casts a shadow 10 m long. Work out the height of the lamppost.

3.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.

4.The volume of fuel remaining in a storage tank, in thousands of litres, is plotted against time, in hours, since a leak was detected. A tangent to the graph at t = 2 hours has gradient −8.75 thousand litres per hour. A tangent at t = 8 hours has gradient −3.5 thousand litres per hour. Work out by what factor the instantaneous rate of change is greater in size at t = 2 hours than at t = 8 hours.

5.An architect builds a scale model of a staircase before construction. The model is mathematically similar to the real staircase, at a scale of 1 : 10. The model covers a floor area of 0.4 m² on the plan. Work out the floor area the real staircase will cover, giving your answer in m².

6.A coach travels the 54 miles from London to Brighton in 1 hour 30 minutes. Work out the average speed of the coach, in mph.

7.A straight-line graph shows the cost, C pounds, of hiring a bike for h hours. The line passes through the points (1, 12) and (4, 27). Which of these statements about the line is true?

8.In a fruit drink, cranberry juice and apple juice are mixed in the ratio 3:7. Write the amount of apple juice as a fraction of the amount of cranberry juice, in its simplest form.

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

10.A cyclist's speed, in metres per second, is plotted against time, in seconds, since she sets off. Which statement correctly pairs the gradient of a tangent to this graph, and the area between the graph and the time-axis, with what each one represents?

11.A charity collects donations from adults and children in the ratio 5:2. Altogether, £238 is collected. Work out how much more the adults donate than the children.

12.A shop sells identical pens. The total cost, C pence, of n pens is given by C = 12n. Write the ratio n : C in its simplest form.

13.A shop's takings were £4500 in May. In June the takings fell by £900. Write the June takings as a fraction of the May takings, in its simplest form.

14.Given that 1 mile ≈ 1.6 km, work out a speed of 55 mph in km/h.

15.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.