Mathematical and theoretical biology, also called biomathematics, is a branch of biology that employs theoretical analysis, mathematical modeling and abstraction to investigate the principles governing the structure, development and behavior of biological systems. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Central QuestionHow the growth, structure and behavior of a living system can be captured well enough by a mathematical model to predict its future states, beginning with population growth models as simple as counting how a single breeding pair of rabbits multiplies. 1 Key DebateHow early a mathematical treatment of biology can genuinely be said to begin. Leonardo of Pisa used the Fibonacci sequence to describe a growing population of rabbits as far back as the thirteenth century, but the field's own founding text is usually dated to D'Arcy Thompson's 1917 On Growth and Form, with Ronald Fisher, Vito Volterra, Nicolas Rashevsky and Conrad Hal Waddington counted among its other early pioneers, a gap of centuries between the earliest recognized calculation and the field's first sustained research program. 1 Classification
Pure or AppliedBoth / Interdisciplinary 1 Connections
Associated With
Includes
Source MacTutor biography of Alston Householder, St Andrews
Source Competitive Lotka-Volterra equations (Wikipedia)
Source Fisher's fundamental theorem of natural selection - Wikipedia
Source Generalized Lotka-Volterra Equation (Wikipedia)
Source Hans Rademacher, Biography (MacTutor History of Mathematics)
Source Price Equation (Wikipedia)
Source Wolfram MathWorld: SIR Model
Sources
1. Mathematical and Theoretical Biology (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead section
Mathematical and theoretical biology, or biomathematics, is a branch of biology which employs theoretical analysis, mathematical modeling, and abstractions about living organisms to investigate the principles that govern the structure, development, and behavior of biological systems.
Lead section, pure or applied classification
Mathematical and theoretical biology, or biomathematics, is a branch of biology which employs theoretical analysis, mathematical modeling, and abstractions about living organisms to investigate the principles that govern the structure, development, and behavior of biological systems.
Early History (Fibonacci)
Mathematics has been used in biology as early as the 13th century, when Fibonacci used the famous Fibonacci series to describe a growing population of rabbits.
Early History (founding text)
One founding text is considered to be On Growth and Form (1917) by D'Arcy Thompson, and other early pioneers include Ronald Fisher, Hans Leo Przibram, Vito Volterra, Nicolas Rashevsky and Conrad Hal Waddington.
View the Source Price Equation (Wikipedia)
Includes: Price equation, LeadQuote, Includes: Price equation, Lead
In the theory of evolution and natural selection, the Price equation
Generalized Lotka-Volterra Equation (Wikipedia)
Includes: Generalized Lotka-Volterra Equation, LeadQuote, Includes: Generalized Lotka-Volterra Equation, Lead
are a set of equations which are more general than either the competitive or predator-prey examples of Lotka-Volterra types
Wolfram MathWorld: SIR Model
Wolfram MathWorldIncludes: SIR Model, Lead sentenceQuote, Includes: SIR Model, Lead sentence
An SIR model is a compartmental epidemiological model for the time evolution of a closed population
Fisher's fundamental theorem of natural selection - Wikipedia
Includes: Fisher's Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Fisher's Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection, Lead section
of natural selection is an idea about genetic variance in population genetics developed by the statistician and evolutionary
Competitive Lotka-Volterra equations (Wikipedia)
Includes: Competitive Lotka-Volterra Equations, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Competitive Lotka-Volterra Equations, Lead section
Lotka-Volterra equations are a simple model of the population dynamics of species competing for some common
MacTutor biography of Alston Householder, St Andrews
Includes: Alston Householder, SummaryQuote, Includes: Alston Householder, Summary
Alston Householder was an American mathematician who worked in mathematical biology and numerical analysis.
Hans Rademacher, Biography (MacTutor History of Mathematics)
Includes: Hans Rademacher, SummaryQuote, Includes: Hans Rademacher, Summary
Hans Rademacher was a German-born mathematician who worked in analytic number theory, mathematical genetics, the theory of functions of a real variable and quantum theory.
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