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This study relates factors in nature of Mathematics and its teaching learning to student difficulties for diverse mathematics tasks. Descriptive survey was done on a sample of 300 high school students in Kerala with a questionnaire on difficulties in learning. Student perception of difficulty on 26 types of tasks, under five heads that students may face in solving problems in school mathematics were obtained. These were subsequently abridged through factor reduction into nine categories of tasks in school mathematics. Parallel to this, ratings on 13 reasons related to nature of school mathematics that students perceive as making mathematics difficult for them were also obtained. In factor reduction, these reasons merge into two broad sources of difficulty: 1. Nature of school mathematics content, and 2. Nature of Mathematics Teaching-Learning. Nature of school mathematics with less control for teaching learning correlated more with relatively less difficult tasks. Findings imply that tasks in school mathematics where in students perceive higher difficulty can be remedied through adaptation in teaching learning to a considerable extent. Proper guidance on methods of learning Mathematics and metacognitive and self-regulatory strategies are recommended. Practice may be given in understanding questions, key words and analysing word problems. Mathematical content should be prepared and presented in tune with the daily life of the child. Mathematical vocabulary of students needs to be strengthened by helping with symbols, notations and mathematical terms. Frequent cumulative revision may help in meeting challenges from cumulative nature of the subject.

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