Biology by Numbers: An Encouragement to Quantitative Thinking |
| Author: Richard F. Burton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $99.00
Buy New: $98.01
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New (15) Used (10) from $51.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 5418283
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0521571561
Dewey Decimal Number: 570.151
EAN: 9780521571562
ASIN: 0521571561
Publication Date: February 28, 1998
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Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
This textbook is both an introduction to quantitative biology and a guide for the number-shy. Richard Burton fosters a sense of the fundamental importance and usefulness of mathematical principles in biology, with a fascinating range of examples. The book is geared toward the nonmathematician, and covers the basics as well as various more advanced topics from many diverse biological disciplines. Questions and calculations encourage active participation without holding up the casual reader. A key feature is the structure of the book. Rather than building it around biological disciplines, Dr. Burton emphasizes the common ways of reasoning used in areas as diverse as insect and population growth, seed mortality, and sensory response (to mention a few that use logarithms).
Book Description
Biology students are notoriously reluctant to use mathematics, yet a simple grasp of numbers reveals real insights into a whole range of biological phenomena. In this introductory text Richard Burton fosters a sense of the importance of maths to biology using a wealth of examples while assuming minimal maths ability. Questions and calculations encourage active participation, and the structure shows how the same reasoning aids the understanding of a range of biological problems. Aimed at beginning undergraduates but of great value to all the number-shy, including graduate students.
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Customer Reviews:
Back-of-the-envelope modeling March 3, 2001
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a primer on modeling for biologists. It is written to reduce mathematics fears of budding biologists. But it offers plenty of interesting biology for the mathematically oriented non-biologist (I hold a physics degree), but absolutely no new maths. The book proceeds by examples which use similar techniques but which may differ considerably: exponential relationship examples include pollen grains in sediments as well as attractiveness of dung for dungflies. For the mathematically proficient, this can be bedside reading, as most the calculations can be done mentally. For the more mathematically inclined, Karl Sigmunds's book Games of Life offers wonderful mathematics of biology.
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