Revolutionizing Life

The Mathematics of life; a book that commences new intellectual idea and knowledge in the field of Biology with accordance to the principles of Mathematics. Biology is basically known as a branch of science that studies life and everything that encompasses it. Because of its broad scope and for it to easily understand the principles behind the phenomenon of life, Biology is interrelated with other branch of sciences. Mathematics on the other hand is the discipline being associated with other branch of sciences because of the principles it has that enables other sciences to solve certain problems underlying it. Mathematics therefore is the core of all sciences. However, Biology and Mathematics are not related since Biology doesn’t directly uses Mathematics but instead, Biology is allied with other branch of sciences that uses the principles of Mathematics. This idea was opposed by an English mathematician, Ian Nicholas Stewart. In his book entitled The Mathematics of life he pointed out how Mathematics had changed the views of different scientists regarding the phenomenon of life, in accordance to that; Biology.

The book written by Ian Stewart revolves in the idea that there were five great revolutions that had changed the way biologist and other scientists think of life. The five great revolutions are; the microscope, classification, evolution, genetics and the structure of DNA respectively. Stewart added a sixth revolution, Mathematics. In his book he tries to prove how Mathematics had become fundamental in unlocking the mysteries of life through giving an overview of the five great revolutions of Biology by incorporating every revolution with Mathematics. He also did not stop with the idea that Biology uses Mathematics but proves that life itself had been using mathematics in each of its phenomenon involuntarily.

He started his book with the introduction of what life is and what is Biology. He mentioned in his introduction that there were five great revolutions that had changed the way scientists think about life and a sixth revolution that is on its way to be revealed. In every chapter he provides information on how Biology had revolutionized through the years and how Mathematics had been clandestinely helping the field.

In the first chapter of his book he had a quick review on the five revolutions that had a great impact on the field of Biology and how it has expound the minds of the different scientists to new possibilities and reasons to explain the phenomenon of life. In the second chapter he explained how microscopes had evolved through time and what great importance it was to the field of biology and other sciences. He explained that through microscopes living organisms were much more understood. Through the birth of the microscope there were also new discoveries that were revealed; as an example, the cell. At the start of the third chapter he made a quick summary through stating; “This is a short chapter of a long list.” Indeed the chapter talks about a long list of classification with the following hierarchy; Kingdom, Domain, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species. He explained that these hierarchies are used to easily categorize and identify specific organism without interchanging it with other organisms. As an example in assigning an organism in the different hierarchy he used the idea of counting plant organs. In this part he mentioned that most plants have patterns of numbers and shaped observed on their leaves and flowers which are used in assigning them to a specific classification. In the next chapter, he mentioned the first mathematics that had used the idea of patterns in living organisms. This number sequence or pattern was called as the Fibonacci numbers. He explained that most plant organism follow this pattern. Not only do they follow the Fibonacci numbers but also the golden ratio. He states here that life could have probably been using math on its own.

The fifth chapter talks about the third revolution; evolution. This chapter focused on the idea of Charles Darwin. He explained how the theories of Charles Darwin had open up new ideas in the field of Biology and other related sciences. Darwin had caused lots of issue but also may had explained some points regarding the evolution and the variation of different species based on different factors that had been subjected to them. In the sixth, seventh and eighth chapter he mainly discussed about DNA, Genetics and how Genetics had evolved through time. Theses chapters revolved in the idea that through Genetics new ideas and learning about life had helped the scientists in unlocking mysteries. It had explained the different processes that underlie the phenomenon of life and how different organisms contain different genetic materials that had caused each organism to be unique from one another.

 In ninth chapter he explained how taxonomist arranged different organisms based on their direct and common ancestors through a classification scheme. This scheme uses a tree to represent the ancestors and the new generation of species. In the diagram the branches shows how organisms or species are connected by changes in their DNA.

Microorganisms, especially viruses are invisible to the naked eye and it could only be seen with the use of the microscope. The tenth chapter talked about the viruses and the idea of fourth dimension. Viruses follow geometric shapes and patterns which had led to a theory that the geometry of viruses had took place in four dimensions and not three.

Chapter elven to sixteen, talks about important facts, knowledge and ideas concerning the different functioning parts of organisms and how they function themselves. In these chapters mathematics is applied in understanding the different phenomenon and processes that organisms undergo. The final three chapters wraps up the whole book, starting with chapter seventeen which talks about life and what are the standard outlines to consider that a specific entity possesses life or is a living organism. The eighteenth chapter talks about the possibilities of other living organisms living outside our planet and how scientists through the years are trying to figure out missing puzzle pieces regarding this wonder.

The last chapter, chapter nineteen Stewart ended his book with a striking conclusion. He concluded that Mathematics may not have directly revolutionized the way scientists think about Biology but it had given Biology a big favor. Mathematics had helped Biology answer some phenomena that are not answerable by the principles of Biology alone. He finally concluded that each branch of science is related and is essential in answering different phenomenon each of them tries to solve.

            Ian Stewart had written his book in a typically clear and entertaining manner. In my own opinion as a Biology student, he had explained Biology in a manner that I could easily understand ---the knowledge he was trying to impart. However, for people who don’t have a vast background about Biology, they might have a hard time in understanding his book and would easily get bored. This might be the challenge about writing this book but still he had pulled it off because he knows how to get the attention of the readers easily. It was however odd when he added the idea of aliens in his book. It may be considered as other life form however, it was not significant for his main topic. Overall his book was entertaining and interesting which could give readers new insights and intellectual idea.

            I agree with Ian Stewart’s idea of Mathematics as the sixth revolution that would take scientists to a deeper understanding of Biology. Indeed Biology could not stand alone without the other field of science and those other fields could not stand on their own without Mathematics. Through this book, it was imparted that even before Mathematics had been fundamental in answering problems and analyzing answers regarding the different phenomena affects and encompasses life. Indeed Mathematics had changed the way scientists think about life and it would continue to revolutionize the field of Biology in the years to come.