Ratio, proportion and rates of change worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.A tangent to the graph of population against time at the point where t = 4 passes through (2, 180) and (6, 260). Work out the instantaneous rate of change of the population at t = 4, in people per year.

2.Work out the value of x when 4/x = 2/5.

3.Write 400 g : 1.5 kg as a ratio in its simplest form.

4.A garden centre has 90 rose bushes in stock. It receives a delivery that increases its stock of rose bushes by 20%. In the same week it sells 150 lavender bushes. Work out the new number of rose bushes, then write it as a fraction of the number of lavender bushes sold, giving your answer in its simplest form.

5.A laptop bag has a mass of 2.4 kg. A school bag has a mass of 3.6 kg. Write the mass of the laptop bag as a fraction of the mass of the school bag, giving your answer in its simplest form.

6.A footpath is drawn 3 cm long on a map with a scale of 1 : 50 000. Work out the real length of the footpath, in metres.

7.A trust fund contains £8000. Each year, 5% interest is added, and then £600 is paid out to a charity. Work out the amount remaining in the fund after 2 years.

8.A tap fills a tank at a rate of 15 litres per minute. Given that 1 litre = 1000 cm³, work out the rate at which the tank fills in cm³ per second.

9.A toy manufacturer makes a model aircraft that is mathematically similar to the real aircraft, at a scale of 1 : 48. The wingspan of the model is 15 cm. Work out the wingspan of the real aircraft, giving your answer in metres.

10.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.

11.A statue exerts a downward force of 68.4 N on its base, which has an area of 2.85 m². Work out the pressure that the statue exerts on its base, in N/m².

12.Priya is paid £58.50 for working 7.5 hours on a Saturday. Work out her rate of pay, in £ per hour.

13.A rope of length A is 1.5 times as long as a rope of length B. Write the ratio A : B in its simplest form.

14.Write 45 minutes : 2 hours as a ratio in its simplest form.

15.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.