The Day Math Became Inevitable

What is the best way to spend your vacation? Read Ian Stewart’s Mathematics of Life. In this book he discusses his idea on the 5 biological revolutions and recognizes a 6^th one. The first is the invention of the microscope and next came the systematic classification the planet’s living creatures. The third revolution is the theory of evolution preceding the discovery of the gene and the fifth is the discovery of the DNA structure. The 6^th is of course.. Mathematics.  

He thoroughly discusses these points in his chapters. Stewart stresses on the role of math in each revolution. Sure, biology has worked hand in hand with mathematics for a long time, but nothing more than a servant. I couldn’t agree more when Stewart says biology is the branch of science to go to if you want to avoid math as much as possible. Apparently that boat sailed long ago, I would testify. Mathematics is definitely the new tool in the biology kit.

The invention of microscope marked the first biological revolution. Before that, we looked at everything on a human scale. Stewart explains this so much better with his moon, cow and flea metaphor. But as far as my understanding goes, we pretty much settled on whatever detail our naked eye can give. Until came the lens which aided our naked eye to see distant objects like planets and the teeny tiny bacteria. Along great discoveries come great ructions. Poor Galileo died for his observations and deductions (through the telescope) that the universe doesn’t revolve around the earth because the religious authorities thought it was horrifying. Luckily, the discoverers which utilized the microscope didn’t share Galileo’s fate. The microscope had not only opened the internal world of very small creatures. It paved the way for countless milestones to understanding life better. Mathematical models helped biologists understand different forms of developments.

Finding patterns is one of the things that define mathematics. Not a lot of discussion is needed to talk about what math has got to do with the classification of every species on earth. That is because the Linnaean system classification deals with an awful lot of patterns. To prove this, Fibonacci numbers are even found in floral patterns, spiral patterns in pineapples, growing tip of Arabidopsis and so much more. Truly, even biologist students, could still learn so much from this book. One of those is the importance of classification system. I used to say, ‘why Carl, why you make this system? Now I have a bucketful to memorize, such a pain in the arse’. Sure, classification is merely butterfly collecting in the complexity of biology as Stewart would put it. But there’s more to it than just that, and I quote “Many sciences could not have arisen without an initial stage of butterfly collecting”.

Next revolution on the list is the theory of evolution. In this chapter Stewart talks about Darwin’s adventure and how he was credited the father of evolution. In some point, a reader would realize that evolution was not entirely Darwin’s idea. He was more into natural selection and its evidences but he did made a point that it was possible to have drastic changes in species given the right amount of time and conditions. One of the literatures that convinced Darwin was Thomas Malthus’s 1826 Essay on the Principle of Population, wherein populations grow geometrically while resources grow arithmetically. Needless to say, that was math in action.

The discovery of genes was made possible by Gregor Mendel. His journey is yet another story Stewart did not fail to tell. One of Mendel’s most important contribution was mathematical--- the ratio of the phenotypes and genotypes of the next generation in pea plants (a way better idea than nasty bees). Moreover, his extensive work lifted the fog of the prevailing principle of blending inheritance. Mendel answered the question ‘what?’ but not ‘how’. Although he did think there were these ‘factors’ that was involved, which brings us to the next revolution.

Scientists eventually figured out that inheritance was written in the molecule called deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The great mystery now lies on how it looked and how it worked. Various observations lead to the double-helix model by Watson and Crick. One of these observations by Chargaff was the identical percentage of guanine and cytosine as well as of thymine and adenine in different species. It led him to the inference that the bases always come in pairs. Finally x-ray was invented and this was made possible by the mathematics of wave interference. You will find out that mathematics has been playing a big role in these discoveries more than you ever thought.

As I’ve mention, mathematics is more than just adding, subtracting or finding x who seems to be always lost. Stewart says: “what we learn at school is a tiny, limited part of a vast enterprise. To call it one-tenth of one per cent would be generous.” And so in the next chapters, Stewart delves on the sixth revolution- the fusion of mathematics and biology. He makes clear descriptions of how mathematics became a tool in the biology kit. Points which could not possibly be placed better in words than Stewart did.

The book Mathematics of Life is surprisingly great. The author has a great sense of humour without trying so hard. His writing style has much resemblance with that of my fave author Rick Riordan (hi there Percy Jackson fans!). I guarantee you will love his metaphor like you love Dr. House’s. It makes things sound easy. This book is very reader-friendly that the general public would understand his discussions without breaking a sweat. It was like my Introduction to Biology subject jam-packed in 369 pages with emphasis on the relationship of math and biology. I didn’t thought it was possible to be thorough and concise at the same time, but Stewart certainly did achieve that. It must’ve taken unimaginable research to be able to get the tiniest detail like Darwin’s love life.

And I’m really starting to sound like a fan-girl now, but Stewart writes like he’s actually talking to his readers, not merely blabbing his thoughts out needlessly. He managed to write very informatively without being dogmatic. Honestly, I did enjoy reading it. I could say it was really worth my time, almost like I didn’t do it for a project. Okay, reading a math book over vacation is probably not the best way to spend leisure time. But if you ever plan on reading one, it has got to be The Mathematics of Life.