Instructor Class Description

Time Schedule:

• Summer Quarter 2008
• Autumn Quarter 2008

Carl T Bergstrom
BIOL 429
Seattle Campus

Models in Biology

Explores use of models in biology in a wide range of topics, including morphogenesis, nerve signals, ecological interactions, population biology, and evolutionary theory. Emphasis on the biological insights models can provide rather than mathematical techniques. Prerequisite: either MATH 146, MATH 390, MATH 395, STAT 342, or STAT 391.

Class description

This description is for Winter 2008 only:

Information is a central organizing concept in the study of biology; Shannon's information theory provides a valuable set of tools for understanding how information operates in biological system. This quarter we will develop the mathematical foundations necessary to understand and use information theory in biological applications ranging from neurobiology to evolutionary theory.

This quarter we will focus on the mathematical machinery that we need to model such processes: the mathematics of stochastic processes. Topics include Markov chains , birth-death processes, branching processes, poisson processes, Brownian motion, renewal processes, and Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes.

Student learning goals

General method of instruction

Lecture

Recommended preparation

Prerequisites:

1) College calculus: MATH 124-126 or MATH 134-136 or MATH 144-146. 2) Probability theory: MATH 390 or MATH 394-395 or MATH 144-145 or STAT 341-342 or STAT 391

Class assignments and grading

Problem sets

Problem sets, exams

Office of the Registrar
For problems and questions about this web page contact icd@u.washington.edu,
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Modified:June 21, 2008