Mathematics of Lifee - a book review

A mathematics professor named Ian Stewart wrote a book entitled “The Mathematics of Life” wherein mathematics found itself a role to play in the science of life. Science was just about physics or stamp collecting as defined by Rutherford. Biologists thought that mathematics cannot help or contribute in their principles. Mathematics was never associated with science particularly biology until it has shown itself unlocking some mysteries of the existing world. Stewart somehow connected mathematics and biology, creatively revealing the essence of their relationship and realizing its fundamental impact to the future. Nature and origin of life, being one of the most complex predicaments of the human race was being worked out not only through biology but also with the help of mathematics. This is somehow a proving of Galileo’s presumption that mathematics was at the heart of science as being showed that it really plays a vital role in sciences.

Stewart initially gave an overview of the history of biology and introduction of science basics where biologist could think it as uncomplicated while others, who technically doesn’t have even some of basic principles will think that they are starting to learn something new. He tried to explain complex concepts to something that any reader can understand. He primarily introduced five biological revolutions which were believed to be the reason of biology’s existence in the modern world: the innovation of the microscope, systematic means of specie classification, the evolution of species, the development of genetics and the structure of DNA. Human genome project is of course something that is not even in our basic knowledge nevertheless, Stewart was wisely elucidating how it did not turned out the way it was expected to be. Mathematics was then the sixth revolution expected to be on its way. It is now becoming an easily understood scenario for science to explain how things happen and not only just recording and using theories.

Now, as he goes on with his rationalizations about mathematics, it can be found out that complexity will be felt if normal people will read it; there was a point wherein only mathematicians can appreciate it. Nevertheless, the book has shown some interesting parts specifically in the introduction of biology and some explanations that connected mathematics to science wherein he used basic principles in life in order for readers to relate to it easily. All in all, readers will not be disappointed with the book since Stewart was able to explain smoothly, being very informative making readers to learn something new.

The Mathematics of Life

     The Mathematics of Life by Ian Stewart talks more about the relationship of biology and mathematics. It is more focused on telling people that math can and is useful to the field of biology. It is said that students usually take Biology to avoid mathematics but that is not the case anymore. Stewart explains how to incorporate and use mathematics for improving and utilizing information in understanding life.

     The book, all in all, was interesting. The first few chapters were easy to comprehend and students can easily relate since it was taught to everyone since elementary. Stewart explains the five revolutions in Biology and adds the sixth revolution which is mathematics. He explains each revolution clearly so it wasn’t hard to understand. The other chapters were a bit complex since the examples given were more advanced. The topics though were very interesting like aliens, hallucination patterns and others. The author explained the mathematical concept behind some biological occurrences well. It is amazing how he incorporated some mathematical approach like the Fibonacci sequence, geometry and others to Biology.

     For me, this book is more on the biology side. Ian Stewart is a famous Mathematician and science-fiction writer. It is interesting how he wrote a book about Biology and incorporated some math. It should be the other way around since he is a mathematician but I guess the book still works. This book would be better if he collaborated with a Biologist and put more accurate facts.

     All in all, this book is for everyone who wishes to understand more about biology with the incorporation of mathematics. If you want to study more detailed about life using the mixture of biology and mathematics, this book would be a helpful reference. It is well written and easy to comprehend.

Made up, At Last

I remember my best friend telling me the relationships between subsets of science in progression. He started with Mathematics because it's abstract for it has no natural form and is only found in nature as something representational. He then said that the direct application of Mathematics is Physics due to its heavy reliance on the former. It deals on the relationships of phenomena in nature which are turned to equations for quantification. The application of Physics, according to him, is Chemistry. His reason was the existence and interaction of matter is due to the phenomena existing in nature. The application of Chemistry is Biology. Life forms consist of different kinds of simple and complex chemicals in order for them to function. The application of Biology branches to different fields of science such as the Social Sciences due to the fact that living things, especially humans, are beings which interact with each other and their surroundings.

After he shared those things, I contemplated on the relationships of the sciences with each other aside from those he mentioned. Almost all are related. I learned calculations of concentrations and solubility constants in chemistry. Birds use Bernoulli's Principle to fly, but how would I use Math in Biology or the other way around. Math is so objective. It follows patterns and rules. Whereas Biology is something spontaneous and variable. I never imagined Math being used in Biology. How can I relate calculations and the instinctiveness of animal organs? I can't fathom.

Ian Stewart’s Mathematics of Life discussed about the possible relationships of Mathematics and Biology. Stewart is a mathematics professor in University of Warwick, England and is a popular-science and science-fiction writer. He generally discussed that despite the far and somewhat impossible relevance between math and biology, relationship were already in them before they were discovered. He began with the established revolutions in biology, particularly microscopy, taxonomy, evolution, genetics and DNA. As how he described them, initially, little to no math was find in each revolution.

            In the succeeding chapters, however, each revolution were discussed in mathematical perspectives, may it be simple or complex. In microscopy, lens have to be carefully designed, which will be using mathematical concepts, in order to view things in desired magnifications. The magnifying capabilities attained begins the growing interest of scientists in different fields to collaborate for common interests, especially biologists and mathematicians.

            In the concept of population growth in animals, geometric progressions, in the rabbit reproduction example, were used to predict the theoretical number of rabbits at a given generation. The biological part about it, though, is that life is unpredictable, thus, certain factors would affect the true population growth of any species existing. The mathematical model, however, cannot be said wrong as it only tells a possible scenario that neglects other factors, thus, making foreseeing of the population number still possible.

            In biological processes, especially concerning with biochemistry, mathematicians are gaining interest due to the complex chemical composition of biological matters, especially DNA. Mathematical approach to this topic reduces Biology to Chemistry and Physics. Concepts like Knot Theory and Bragg’s Law are used to decipher processes, structure and nature of the said matters.

            Currently, the populace don’t see the relationship between mathematics and biology as something opaque and noticeable due to educational resources available for all, as it is not that easy to be understood by an average person. However, as Stewart foresees in the future, different fields of science shall not separate from each other like isolated villages but would work together as networking communities to attain different kinds of goals in order to satisfy the curiosity humanity expresses around him.

           

The Mathematics of Life: A Review

The Mathematics of Life by Ian Stewart is a book that discusses the relationship between Mathematics and Biology.

Stewart, in the first few pages of the book, writes about revolutions that made ripples throughout the world of Biology which constructed the Science of Life that we know today.

He first discussed five of these revolutions. The first revolution was all about the invention of the microscope. This ground-breaking instrument helped scientists to better understand the nature of life from a microscopic perspective. The second revolution was the Classification of organisms. This was the age where Carl Linnaeus established a proper and orderly manner of classifying organisms according to their kingdom, class, order, genera, species, and such. The third revolution is about the theory of evolution. This theory was proposed by Charles Darwin. This theory discusses how organisms, ever since the beginning of time, adapted with their environment in order to survive. Those who were not able to adapt died and those who remained continued multiplying and produced better, more developed off-springs. The discovery of Genetics is the fourth revolution. Gregor Mendel was able to notice a pattern in the characteristics of peas and was able to conclude that there are factors within every organism which would determine the features an organism will have. The fifth revolution is the establishment of the actual structure of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which is the foundation of every organism’s genetic make-up.  This helped understand further how the DNA works, which is very important in genetics.

Stewart goes on to discuss a sixth revolution which is mathematics. He states that though in the past mathematics and biology are two different things and though mathematics has always been just a tool used in biology, this relationship has been evolving and will continue to evolve until it is almost impossible to separate the two. Since a lot of mathematical principles, physics, chemistry, geometry and such are being used to explain some phenomenon in biology, mathematics has become very important in biology.

Mathematics can be used to explain phenomenon that happen inside an organism and around an organism. It is very thrilling to even just imagine what else mathematics can contribute to society, to people, to science, in the ages to come and even in the near future. 

Book Review: The Mathematics of Life by Ian Stewart

            “What mathematics is, and how useful it is, are widely misunderstood.”

Source: http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2862#comic

When we talk about Mathematics, the other courses that first comes to mind are usually Physics and Chemistry. After all, we do use numbers in these sciences. We don’t usually classify other sciences with Mathematics, especially those which does not deal so much with numbers. However, Mathematics is also a growing science. Its growth proceeds in an ‘intimidating rate’ and has affected even the most unusual science it could pair up with-Biology.

            Ian Stewart in his book, The Mathematics of Life, states that Biology is the sixth stage of revolution transforming a new way for scientists to study about life. For a long time Mathematics has existed, it may not seem revolutionary for it to become paired with Biology. Sequences and dating is one way for Mathematics to be used in Biology however, Stewart notes that Mathematics could do more than simple statistics. Much of the concepts in Biology like neurons and DNA sequencing can now be understood through chemistry and physics. This allows more understanding than mere data analysis. Through Mathematics, Biology can not only analyse statistical data but can give more approximations for other problems. Ian Stewart closes the gap between these two sciences and gives us more depth for Mathematics which is not used only for mere arithmetic and also broadens our idea of Biology which is not only for mere classification and identification.

            This book is actually more interesting than the name appears it to be. Personally, anything which involves a large ‘Mathematics’ as its name would hint me a difficult read but it is actually lighter than the previous, What is Mathematics, Really by Reuben Hersh. It touches an in-depth argument of the revolution of Mathematics in Biology and a new light for the application of Mathematics other than mere arithmetic. This book gives us more of an idea on how versatile Mathematics is and how the versatility of the science impacts more (even unusual) concepts than what we originally thought it should be.

The Truth Behind Math and Biology's Relationship (A Mathematics of Life Book Review)

 Mathematics of Life by Ian Stewart             

                    Remember how much of a breather sophomore year in high school was? We had Biology which did not demand calculations and such (ahh, those were the days).  Biology and math did not seem compatible but Ian Stewart said that this was changing.

                Ian Stewart wrote a book called Mathematics in Life, which is about the relationship of mathematics with biology (which is going strong, btw). It is an overview of the role of mathematics in discovering more about the origins of life, and life itself. We all know that biology is about plants, animals, cells.. well, basically about life. Studies in biology have progressed and mathematics has helped in this development. Mathematical ideas have been motivated by biology like how biologists found patterns in an angelfish’s stripes, they explained it not through dissection but, rather, through formulas (how awesome is that?!). Stewart tells us that mathematics is being used not just to help biologists with their data or whatnot, but on a deeper level: to provide significant insights into science itself, to explain how life works. Biology and Math have a mutualistic relationship, both benefits from each other.

                The book was really fun to read. The first few chapters helped refresh my mind about what I have learned in the biology courses that I have taken up. I was amazed how mathematical analysis helped in discovering more about the hidden secrets in our world and it’s also easier. This was the first time I’ve read something about math and biology together, so I really enjoyed all this brand new information. If you love both biology and math, you’d definitely adore this book.

                Indeed, math has [and will continue] to play an important role in our lives. I mean, how can we live without it?

the cover of the book was awesome too ^-^

MST 3_ Mathematics of life (Ian Stewart)

Book Review by Denzelle Freya A. Del Puerto

Mathematics of Life

            The book’s author is Ian Stewart. The book is all about the many contributions of mathematics on unlocking ancient mysteries of the world which many biologists of the past have long dismissed mathematics as incapable to meaningfully contribute to our understanding of the world and ourselves. It is a wonderful and engaging introduction to the role of mathematics in life sciences, from cellular organization to the behavior and evolution of entire organisms.

         Truth be told, I first thought this book is another stiff paperback on mathematics, where mathematical terms and expressions and jokes are to be conveyed to readers. But, upon reading the first chapters of the book, it is not all about mathematics but it is about life, the science of life with mathematical schemes and explanations. This book offers a much wider scope of the benefits humans have in life because of mathematics. One of my favourite part of the book is when he made an analogy on Lizard Games. In the chapter, he talks in depth about the mating strategies of the side-blotched lizard. There are three different types of male lizard: fighters can defeat pair-bonders, pair-bonders can defeat sneakers, and sneakers can slip past fighters. This is sort of an oversimplification of the system, but you can see how it is analogous to the game rock-paper-scissors. He explains that if Alice and Bob play rock-paper-scissors over and over, if Bob always plays rock, Alice can figure out how to beat him. Therefore, both players should play all three strategies in roughly equal frequency. Although he did not close some of his arguments, i find his analogies quite amusing.

 Stewart covers a lot of ground, that sometimes i am merely looking at the pages due to information overload. His illustration helps in visualizing. He puts the concepts in modern contexts thus understandable.

          This book - The Mathematics of Life, provides a fascinating overview of the vital but little-recognized role mathematics has played in pulling back the curtain on the hidden complexities of the natural world. Thumbs up to the author.

Mathematics of Life

Book Review: Mathematics of Life

            The book written by Ian Stewart published in the year 2011 under Basic Books, Inc. titled the “Mathematics of Life” is a book that keeps on claiming, “Biology will be the next great mathematical frontier over the next centuries promising huge advances in medicine and agriculture as well as deep understanding of the nature of life itself” and that it will spearhead and hasten a fundamental and exhilarating swing in how the sciences inter-relate.

According to Stewart, the author, his main objective of writing the book is “to show how the techniques and viewpoints of mathematics are helping us to understand not just what life is made from, but how it works, on every scale from molecules to the entire planet – and possibly beyond”.

Apparently, one thing I like about the book is that it is being direct, well not all of it, but I find some of its topics somehow digestible. Among the topics discussed, I am most absorbed with the topic: “Mathematics and Biology” which is the first topic of the book next to preface. In this chapter, Stewart provided five of the six revolutions he claimed have changed the way scientist think about life. The first five revolutions as he had mentioned were: the invention of the microscope, the systematic classification of the planet’s living creatures by Carl Linnaeus, the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin, the genetics by Gregor Mendel and the structure of DNA by Francis Crick and James Watson. Somehow and in some ways, with the same vein, these revolutions shed new light to how life and its processes are being apprehended. What unites them all, is Stewart’s sixth revolution – “Mathematics”. It was discussed on the last part of the book. If I were to exaggerate things, without a doubt, for me this section of the book unchained those barriers that kept my brain from open-mindedly digesting what the author tried to argue. Mathematics is not only about numbers, doing sums as what have taught in schools, there is more to mathematics!!, and those things that we know, are only a small fraction of the its vast enterprise.

 Honestly, I find a few number of the topics discussed in the book, equivocal. On those sections of the book, I did not fully understand what the author is trying to convey to the point that I just found myself merely reading those words written on it. But, considering the interesting topics, I did learn that most of the applications discussed here are to mainstream mathematical biology and that ”the interaction between mathematics and biology is one of the hottest areas of science and definitely, only the future will show just how far it can go.”

The application of mathematics to biology depends on new apparatus, most obviously the computer. Mathematics provides a new point of view, addressing not just the ingredients for life, but the processes that use those ingredients.Lists of ingredients are not enough to understand biology,because what really matters is how those ingredients are used – the processes that they undergo in a living creature. And the best tool we possess for finding out what processes do is mathematics (Stewart 2011).