Intellectual factors affecting the ability to perform mathematical tasks in differential calculus

This study seeks to identify some student intellectual factors that could predict the ability to perform mathematical tasks in differential calculus.This study involved 198 students of Adamson University who were enrolled in differential calculus in the first semester of the school year 2000-2001. They were given three standardized tests - Purdue Non-Language Test, Stanford Achievement Test, Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal - and a teacher-made differential calculus test. Both the descriptive and the inferential statistics were used in the analysis of this study.The correlation matrix was employed to find the correlation between the dependent variable and each of the independent variables and the correlation among the independent variables. The stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to find which among the independent variables are the predictors of mathematical tasks in differential calculus.Among the ten intellectual factors tested in the study, six are found to be correlated with the ability to perform mathematical tasks in differential calculus. These are abstract reasoning, reading comprehension, mathematical computation, science, interpretation and critical thinking. However only four of these intellectual factors are significant predictors of the ability to perform mathematical tasks in differential calculus. These are mathematics computation, abstract reasoning, deductive reasoning and science