Math and Bio are soul sisters

Mathematics of Life.

From the title and cover itself one would think that it’s a book that chronicles the role and significance of mathematics in our daily lives. Upon opening, whew (the exact and only expression that came to mind when I read it), it really is about life. Life – bios, anyone? Yes, biology; even the table of contents has biology thrown in it. Why biology though when it says mathematics on the title? This one’s a new approach and it piqued my interest. So here’s my review (a generalization, I would say) of the mentioned book. I won’t keep it long though; no one wants read a very long entry. That tl;dr moment, I tell you.

“Biology will be the great mathematical frontier of the twenty-first century.”

This is what Ian Stewart wrote at the start of his book. Stewart showed the connection of mathematics and biology, which is quite far-fetched (superficially speaking) if you think about how different the two bodies of knowledge are. Of the points he identified the one that struck me the most would probably be the Fibonacci sequence observed in plants. I was like, whoah amazing may ganyan pala sa plants. This just shows the influence of mathematics even in the minutest details of life. Eh, kung may Fibonacci sequence sa plants what more na lang sa bigger life forms, isama mo na rin ang structure ng body. He also specified mathematical applications on biological phenomena like knot theory on the DNA, game theory on lizards (on how they vie for mates), and arrangement of viruses on higher dimensions (which, according to him, is best for maximum comprehension), among other things.

Fortunately, he was able to express in an easy to understand language the issues, theories, including those mentioned above, of both mathematics and biology. Stewart also provided backgrounds of topics that are very much appreciated by the general readers and delivered the book without too much equations and big, technical words that make the book less intimidating. Another very big plus points for him, indeed.