Ratio, proportion and rates of change worksheet — GCSE Higher

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

2.A shop's daily profit, in pounds, is plotted against the price charged for an item, in pounds. A tangent to the profit graph at a price of £15 passes through the points (12, 540) and (18, 480). Work out the instantaneous rate of change of profit with respect to price at £15, and state whether profit is increasing or decreasing there.

3.Two numbers a and b are in the ratio a : b = 3 : 4. Given that a = 15, work out the value of b.

4.The exchange rate is £1 = €1.15. Convert £200 to euros.

5.A tangent to a curve at the point where x = 3 passes through the points (1, 4) and (5, 20). Work out the gradient of the tangent at x = 3, and hence the instantaneous rate of change of y with respect to x at that point.

6.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.

7.In a class, 50% of the students study French, 30% study Spanish and the rest study German. Write down the ratio of French : Spanish : German students, in its simplest form.

8.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?

9.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.

10.The height of water in a tank, h metres, t minutes after a tap is opened is modelled by h = 0.02t² + 0.5. Estimate the instantaneous rate of change of the height at t = 10, using the gradient of the chord joining t = 9 and t = 11.

11.y is inversely proportional to x, so y = k ÷ x. When x = 5, the value of y is 8. Work out the value of k.

12.Two hikers' journeys are shown on separate distance-time graphs. Hiker A's graph has gradient 4.5 km/h. Hiker B's graph has gradient 3.2 km/h. Work out how much faster Hiker A walks than Hiker B, in km/h.

13.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.

14.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.

15.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.