Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.


Science 6 February 2004:
Vol. 303. no. 5659, pp. 790 - 793
DOI: 10.1126/science.1094442

Viewpoint

Uses and Abuses of Mathematics in Biology

Robert M. May

In the physical sciences, mathematical theory and experimental investigation have always marched together. Mathematics has been less intrusive in the life sciences, possibly because they have until recently been largely descriptive, lacking the invariance principles and fundamental natural constants of physics. Increasingly in recent decades, however, mathematics has become pervasive in biology, taking many different forms: statistics in experimental design; pattern seeking in bioinformatics; models in evolution, ecology, and epidemiology; and much else. I offer an opinionated overview of such uses—and abuses.

Zoology Department, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.

Read the Full Text



THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Model criticism based on likelihood-free inference, with an application to protein network evolution.
O. Ratmann, C. Andrieu, C. Wiuf, and S. Richardson (2009)
PNAS 106, 10576-10581
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Plug-and-play inference for disease dynamics: measles in large and small populations as a case study.
D. He, E. L. Ionides, and A. A. King (2009)
J R Soc Interface
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Enhancing Interdisciplinary, Mathematics, and Physical Science in an Undergraduate Life Science Program through Physical Chemistry.
D. P. Pursell (2009)
CBE Life Sci Educ 8, 15-28
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From the two-dimensional Th1 and Th2 phenotypes to high-dimensional models for gene regulation.
H.-J. van den Ham and R. J. de Boer (2008)
Int. Immunol. 20, 1269-1277
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The circulation of the ocean and its variability.
C. Wunsch (2008)
Progress in Physical Geography 32, 463-474
   PDF »
Heterogeneity and Network Structure in the Dynamics of Diffusion: Comparing Agent-Based and Differential Equation Models.
H. Rahmandad and J. Sterman (2008)
Management Science 54, 998-1014
   Abstract »    PDF »
The Effects of Age, Thymectomy, and HIV Infection on {alpha} and beta TCR Excision Circles in Naive T Cells.
C. van den Dool and R. J. de Boer (2006)
J. Immunol. 177, 4391-4401
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Extinction cascades and catastrophe in ancient food webs.
P. D. Roopnarine (2006)
Paleobiology 32, 1-19
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Quantifying the Contribution of Defective Ribosomal Products to Antigen Production: A Model-Based Computational Analysis.
S. Bulik, B. Peters, and H.-G. Holzhutter (2005)
J. Immunol. 175, 7957-7964
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Disease contact tracing in random and clustered networks.
I. Z Kiss, D. M Green, and R. R Kao (2005)
Proc R Soc B 272, 1407-1414
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Croonian Lecture 2004 Risk: food, fact and fantasy.
J. R Krebs (2005)
Phil Trans R Soc B 360, 1133-1144
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Points of View: The Interface of Mathematics and Biology: Intuition and Innumeracy.
R. Brent (2004)
CBE Life Sci Educ 3, 88-90
   Full Text »    PDF »



To Advertise     Find Products


Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)