Biology by Numbers: An Encouragement to Quantitative Thinking - Softcover

Burton, Richard F.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521576989 ISBN 13: 9780521576987

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1998

Synopsis

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).

About this title

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.

About the Author:

Richard Francis Burton was an explorer, translator, writer, soldier, spy, fencer, and diplomat. He is most famous for his translations of One Thousand and One Nights and the Kama Sutra and for having been the first European to visit the Great Lakes of Africa. He traveled to Mecca in disguise and spoke nearly thirty languages. He died in 1890.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0521576989
• ISBN 13: 9780521576987
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256