Mathematical Models in the Life and Social Sciences

MA 432, Spring 2005

Course Notes

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• Euler renewal model figure. Completed version of the sheet I handed out in class to illustrate the Euler renewal model. Age classes are also labeled in terms of u_{j,n}.

• An Introduction to the Practice of Ecological Modeling, Jackson et al. (2000) Bioscience 50: 694-706.

  This paper looks at why we model biological systems and gives a broad outline of the modeling process. It should be worth reading this at some point during the semester, but you might find it more useful after you've done a few weeks of the course.

  Of particular interest is the discussion regarding the decisions that are made in the model formulation process. The discussion is framed within a population biology (ecology) setting, but the ideas hold for most areas that we might be interested in.

• Biological background: bacteria. By Gary Kaiser at the Community College of Baltimore County. Interesting if you want to learn more about bacteria: includes many pictures of different types of bacteria.
  Another page on bacteria, this time from UC Berkeley.