Basic Mathematics for Biochemists - Couverture souple

Cornish-Bowden, A.

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0412230100 ISBN 13 : 9780412230103

Editeur : Springer, 2013

Synopsis

Some teachers of biochemistry think it positively beneficial for students to struggle with difficult mathematics. I do not number myself among these people, although I have derived much personal pleasure from the study of mathematics and from applying it to problems that interest me in biochemistry. On the contrary, I think that students choose courses in biochemistry out of interest in biochemistry and that they should not be encumbered with more mathematics than is absolutely required for a proper understanding of biochemistry. This of course includes physical chemistry, because a biochemist ignorant of physical chemistry is no biochemist. I have been guided by these beliefs in writing this book. I have laid heavy emphasis on those topics, such as the use of logarithms, that play an important role in biochemistry and often cause problems in teaching; I have ignored others, such as trigonometry, that one can manage without. The proper treatment of statistics has been more difficult to decide. Although it clearly plays an important part in all experi- mental sciences, it is usually preferable to treat it as a subject in its own right and not to try to incorporate it into a course of elementary mathematics. In this book, therefore, I have used a few examples from statistics to illustrate more general points, but I have not discussed it for its own sake.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Mathematics is essential to the study and understanding of biochemistry yet most undergraduates do not have a grasp of maths. This book sets out all the mathematics needed for an undergraduate course in biochemistry, assuming a minimum of prior knowledge. Emphasis is placed on topics necessary for biochemists and all the examples are relevant to biochemistry. Each chapter contains illustrative boxes and worked examples and also a problem section (the answers are given in the back of the book). The book starts by covering the basic concepts of mathematics such as manipulating fractions, functions, and plotting graphs and then explains exponents and logarithms in depth. The next two chapters cover all the ordinary differentiation and integration required by the biochemist. Partial differentiation is explained in a later chapter. Chapter 6 is about solving equations (linear, simultaneous, quadratic, and higher-order) and the final chapter covers the basic ideas of statistics. Basic Mathematics for Biochemists will therefore be invaluable to all biochemistry undergraduates and will also be useful to more experienced biochemists needing to refresh their maths.

Biographie de l'auteur

Athel Cornish-Bowden is at C.N.R.S.-L.C.B., Marseille.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Springer
• Date d'édition: 2013
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0412230100
• ISBN 13: 9780412230103
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 152
• Coordonnées du fabricant: ProductSafety@springernature.com; ProductSafety@springernature.com; ; Poststr. 9; Darmstadt; 64293; Allemagne