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Title: Mathematical Biology: I. An Introduction (Interdisciplinary Applied Mathematics) (Pt. 1)
ISBN: 0387952233
Author:
James D. Murray
Publicate Date: 2007-12-08
Publish: 2007-12-08
List Price: $59.95
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $44.04
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $35.00
Amazon Merchant Price: $44.75
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Difficult but very good
I bought part I a few years ago. I am an economist interested in using examples from biology to explain and model commercial markets, more as a hobby than as a professional. I recently worked on Lotka-Volterra predator prey models and competitive models (a grey squirrel competing a brown squirrel out of business). I hope to find patterns in time series that are similar to patterns in economic time series. Book I covers this but most of the subject is in book II. With help of the Mathematica package I played with the examples in the book and it worked fine. It is a high level mathematical book and although the approach is pragmatic and well written, this book is primarily written for specialized mathematicians which I am not. However I like these two books very much just because of the mathematical depth. Normally the author decides how deep I will dig into matters, here I can decide myself.
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2: Mathematical Biology I
This product was in fabulous condition and was shipped quickly--I recommend the company to all.
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3: New edition - old book split into two
Many reviews here are about the old edition of Mathematical Biology (the softcover one volume, 2nd ed). Recently J.D. Murray split the second edition in two hardcover volumes. Volume 1 discusses mainly models that use Ordinary Differential Equation, while slightly more complicated Math is required for Volume 2. These new books have added topics (modelling of marital interaction, temperature-dependent sex determination, wolf territoriality, etc). While sometimes the model is still very simple and in its inital stages (e.g. marital interaction model), the books show how much biology and applied mathematics intersect, and they make very interesting read.
There is a certain lack of analysis of the nonlinear cases, so for those who need examples of amplitude equations, different ways of perturbing a linear model, these books are not so good. These books might be too complicated for a bio person with not much mathematical background, but it is very accessible to those with some math background, and are certainly easy for Math or Physics people who want to know more applications to biology.
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4: Excellent book on the subject
A few decades ago mathematical biology consisted mostly of evolutionary and predator-prey models. This has changed dramatically in recent years with the advent of computational biology and gene sequencing projects. The applications of mathematics to biology are now exploding and this book is an excellent example of that. The book could best be described as the application of nonlinear dynamical systems and reaction-diffusion partial differential equations to biology structures and processes. Readers with background in these areas of mathematics will find their ideas applied beautifully in this book. The best sections of the book for me were the discussions of synchronized insect emergence, models of testosterone secretion control, insect dispersal models, calcium waves on amphibian eggs, mammalian coat patterns, models of hallucination patterns in the brain, and modeling the transmission dynamics of HIV. Numerous exercises end each chapter, and the mathematical algorithms can easily be coded in Mathematica or some other high level language. This is a fine addition to the literature on mathematical biology and for the price it is a real bargain.
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5: Very interesting, worth your money
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Although a tough read, it is well worth your time and effort. The sections on spots and stripe formation are excellent and quite interesting. An excellent book!
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