Ratio, proportion and rates of change worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.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.

2.Two mathematically similar circles have radii 4 cm and 20 cm. Write the ratio of the area of the smaller circle to the area of the larger circle in its simplest form.

3.Write 250 g : 2 kg as a ratio in its simplest form.

4.A laptop priced at £520 is first increased by 15%, and then the new price is decreased by 20%. Work out the final price of the laptop.

5.Two mathematically similar rectangles have lengths in the ratio 3 : 5. The area of the smaller rectangle is 27 cm². Work out the area of the larger rectangle.

6.A vehicle is worth £18000. Its value decreases by 15% each year. Using the recurrence V_{n+1} = 0.85V_n, with V_0 = 18000, find the first whole number of years after which the vehicle's value drops below £10000.

7.A car is bought for £17,500. Its value decreases by 12% in the first year, and by a further 10% of its reduced value in the second year. Work out the value of the car at the end of the second year, giving your answer to the nearest pound.

8.The concentration of a pollutant in a lake, in arbitrary units, follows the recurrence C_{n+1} = 0.75C_n + 40, with C_0 = 500: each week, 25% of the pollutant breaks down naturally, and then a further 40 units enter the lake from run-off. An ecologist classifies the lake as safe once C_n first drops below 300. Find the first whole number of weeks after which the lake is safe.

9.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.

10.An amount of money is shared in the ratio 1:2:3. The largest share is £90 more than the smallest share. Work out the total amount that was shared.

11.6 identical taps fill a paddling pool in 20 minutes. Each tap fills at the same steady rate. Work out how long 3 of these taps would take to fill the same pool.

12.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.

13.Two mathematically similar garden ponds have surface areas of 12 m² and 27 m². The fencing needed to go around the smaller pond costs £96. Assuming the cost of fencing is proportional to the perimeter of the pond, work out the cost of fencing the larger pond.

14.An online shop's total number of orders received is recorded at the end of each day for five consecutive days: Day 1, 1,284 orders; Day 2, 1,509 orders; Day 3, 1,830 orders; Day 4, 2,296 orders; Day 5, 2,510 orders. Work out between which two consecutive days the average rate of increase in orders was greatest.

15.Order these three values from smallest to largest: 3/8, 0.43, 41%.