The Mathematics of Life

Ian Stewart’s The Mathematics of Life is an account of how biology and mathematics, two fields commonly thought of as exclusive of each other, are in reality intimately interconnected. The book discusses in considerable detail the history of biology interspersed with examples of how mathematics can help solve some of the enigmas of biology.

            Stewart describes the five revolutions that have transformed the field of biology: the invention of the microscope, Linnaean taxonomy, the theory of evolution, the discovery of the gene, and the discovery of the double-helix structure of the DNA. According to Stewart, mathematics will be the sixth. In the waning decades of the last century, mathematics have become increasingly involved in practically all branches of biology from genetics to zoology – mathematical tools complementing existing biological techniques. Stewart also discusses how mathematics can be found in nature, among other things. He talks about the Fibonacci sequence, the golden ratio, and the golden angle and how these can be found in nature – sunflower seeds, flower petals, and the leaf layout on plant stems.

            The book isn’t heavy on mathematics, which is a good thing for the casual reader, and also strengthens Stewart’s point about mathematics and biology – that the problems come from biologists, and mathematics is merely a tool for understanding, not the other way around.

            The book is an excellent introduction to the intermingling of the two fields, and to some extent, can even function as a primer to biology.