There are two types of proportion:

1. Direct proportion:
When one variable increase, the other increases.

For example, if you buy more

ice creams, the cost will
increase.
2. Inverse proportion:
When one variable increase, the other decreases.

For example:

The number of builders needed to build a

house in 10 days will be more than the
number of builders needed to build a house
in 20 days
Direct Proportion
 Find out the weight of 1 book

12 books weigh 48kg

÷12 ÷12
1 book weighs 4kg

So 1 book weighs 4kg

27 must weigh 27 x 4kg = 108kg

 Find out how long it would take to run 1
mile

5 miles takes 45 minutes

÷5
1 mile takes 9 minutes

Now what?
1 mile takes 9 minutes
So 18 times will take 18 times as long
9 x 18 = 162 minutes
Your turn to have a go

5 packs of sweets cost £5.25.

How much would it cost to buy 7 packs of
sweets?

£7.35
10 pieces of wood when laid end to
end measure 55 m. How far would 18
pieces stretch?

99m

Practice
1 2 pizzas cost £8.00. What is the
cost of 4 pizzas?
2 4 sweets cost £1.60. What is the
cost of 8 sweets?
3 10 packets of seeds cost £20.
What is the cost of 5 packets of
seeds?
4 5 tennis balls cost £2.50. What is
the cost of 10 tennis balls?
5 5 kg of apples cost £4.00. What
is the cost of 12 kg of apples?
6 30 protractors cost £3.30. What
is the cost of 17 protractors?
Challenge
1 A machine fills 1000 bottles in 5 hours. Work out
how many hours it would take the machine to fill
1200 bottles.
2 It costs £0.75 to buy 5 bananas. Work out how
much it would cost to buy 7 bananas
3 If 240g of pumpkin can make enough soup for
three people, what weight of pumpkin is needed to
make soup for five people?
4 If five tins of paint are enough for fifteen doors,
how many doors would six tins of paint cover?
5 A student can jog 9km in 54 minutes. At the same
speed how long would it take him to jog 8km?
6 A student can swim nine lengths in 45 minutes. At
the same speed how long would it take her to swim
two lengths?
Practice Challenge
£16 6hours
£3.20 £1.05
£10 400g
£5 18 doors
£9.60 48minutes
£1.87 10 minutes
Inverse Proportion
15 masons can build the wall in 20 days. How
many masons will build the wall in 12 days?
• Think!
• Will you need more masons or less masons?
• So if there was only 1 mason working how long would he take?

25 days
If 7 men build a wall in 10 hours how long
would it have taken 1 man to build it?
• Will the job take more time or less time with fewer people?
• So how long in hours will the whole job take?

70 hours
Your turn to have a go
• 10 builders can build a house in 20 days. How many builders
will you need build the house in 10 days?

20 builders
15 people can complete a job in 42 days. In
how many days will 9 people do the same job?

70 days
 Practice
1 20 workers build the wall in 15 days. How many
days will 12 workers take?
2 Lara reads 21 pages of a book every day and
finishes the book in 30 days. If she reads 18
pages in a day, in how many days will he finish
reading the book?
3 6 pipes are required to fill the tank in 64
minutes. How many pipes are required to fill
the tank in 96 minutes?
4 If 17 men can complete the work in 42 hours.
How many men will be required to do the same
work in 34 hours?
Challenge
1 A school has 8 lessons in a day such that each
lesson is of 35 minutes. If the number of
lessons is reduced to 7, then how long would
each lesson be?
2 500 soldiers in a fort had enough food for 30
days but 125 soldiers were transferred to
another fort. For how many days did the food
last then?
3 5 pumps working together can empty the tank
in 36 minutes. How long will it take to empty
the tank if 9 such pumps are working
together?
4 20 workers working for 8 hours a day build the
wall in 15 days. How many hours a day will 12
workers take to complete the work in 10 days?
Practice Challenge
2.5 days 40 minutes
35 days 40 days
4 pipes 20 minutes
21 men 20 hours.
 Whiteboard work!

Can you identify direct or inverse

proportion?
 If 9 m of cloth cost £22.50 what
would 15m cost?

£37.50

Direct Proportion!
If 6 men build a wall in 10 hours how
long would it have taken 1 man to
build it?

60
hours

Inverse Proportion!
 If 12 books cost £15 what
would 15 books cost?

£18.75

Direct Proportion!
If 5 sheep eat a number of turnips in 6 days,
how long would the same number of turnips
lasts 1 sheep?

30
days

Inverse Proportion!
250 tins of food lasts 7 men 5 days how
long would it have kept 1 man for?

35
days

Inverse Proportion!
If 18 rose bushes cost £9.90 what
would 24 rose bushes cost?

£13.20

Direct Proportion!