Abstract
The objective of this study was to check attitudes towards mathematics and to analyse if there are differences in attitudes that could be attributed to the type of school, gender, grade, age, the frequency in which mathematical problems were understood, the amount of days dedicated to the study of mathematics, school failure, whether help on the completion of homework was offered and to the self-perception of mathematical performance. A total of 209 students of the 3rd and 4th Grades of basic education in the private school system in Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil, were surveyed. They responded to an attitude towards mathematics scale and to a questionnaire for their characterisation, during school hours and in the absence of their mathematics teacher. The average figure on the attitudes scale was 52.718, with a standard deviation of 11.837. Significant statistical differences were found (alpha = 0.05) in the attitudes according to the type of school, the frequency in which the subjects understood the mathematical problems solved in the classroom, grade, age and to the self-perception of mathematical performance.