Test - Working with numbers

April 2024

1 Find the value of

a) 7.2 × 103
b) 8.93 × 102
c) 6.5 × 104

2 Solve the following word problems

The mass of the Earth is 5.98 × 1024 kg. How many tonnes is this?
(1tonne = 1000kg)

A satellite is orbiting Earth at constant speed so that it travels 2.8 × 104 km

each hour. How far does it travel in one year, that is, in 8.76 × 103 hours?

3 Write as a single expression

a) 42 × 43 ÷ 44
b) 36 ÷ 32 × 34
c) b2 × b3 × b4

4 Write these numbers as power of 10.

a) 0.001 = 10−3
b) 0.000 000 000 01 = 10−10

5 Solve the following word problem

a) Cars and lorries can run out of control on steep hills. On some roads there
are escape lanes; these are sand-filled tracks designed to stop vehicles quickly.
One of these is to be designed so that when a vehicle enters it with a speed of
100 miles per hour, after t seconds its speed is (100 × 3−t − 1) miles per hour.

1) What speed is expected after 1 second?

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2) What speed is expected after 3 seconds?

3) About how long does it take to stop a vehicle?

4) What is the value of (100 × 3−t − 1) when t = 6 ? Does this mean anything
in relation to the speed of a vehicle? Explain your answer.

b) Without using a calculator, find 120,000 × 400,000 and write your answer in
standard form.
Now use your calculator to find 120,000 × 400,000. Write down exactly what is
showing on the display of your calculator.

c) A rectangle is 1.5 cm long and 2.7 cm wide, both measurements being

correct to one decimal place. Find the area, rounding your answer to an
appropriate number of decimal places. Explain why you have chosen that
number.

d) Claire is going to travel by train from London to Birmingham. She wants to

know how long the train journey will take. Explain, with reasons, which of the
following answers is sensible.

A 1 21 to 2 hours
B 1 hour 41 minutes
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C 1 hour 45 minutes to the nearest 4 hour