I am looking for studies which compare students who did not receive mathematical education beyond basic mthematics and those that learned maths upto introductory calculus, with the assumption that both groups recieved similar education in other subjects such as social sciences and natural sciences uptil average high school standards. Has it been found that there is a quantifiable difference in understanding, analytical ability etc between the two groups? In other words, what evidence is there that learning maths beyond the basics has benefited them at the stage of just having completed high school?
I understand a basic science curriculum in this case to include a little mathematics, which both groups should know, and for this purpose a notion of solving linear equations (and hence elementary algebra) besides arithmetic is included in basic mathematics. However, there is no trigonometry or geometry in a basic mathematics course, and in general a person learning basic mathematics knows no more then is the essential to understand basic science.