Building Bridges

People say that everything in this world is interconnected. We may be unconscious of these connections and interactions. However, they exist in the farthest or closest way possible.

This was proven in the book written by Ian Stewart entitled “The Mathematics of Life”. From the title itself, you can obtain two ideas, namely, Mathematics and Life. It intrigued me whether I will be writing another book review on a book with lots of contradicting philosophical ideas. Yet after reading Chapter 1, I figured out that this book might be very interesting. It is because it tells about the bridge that connects Mathematics and Biology (the study of life). Being a Biology major, I thought that this book would be very interesting and relatable.

As the book unfolds through each of the chapter, I actually liked how the author arranged his thoughts and let them flow in the book. Since he was relating two complex topics, he was wise to use easy to understand words to let his readers understand his points. In addition to this, knowing that he will discuss the relationship of mathematics with life, he used examples that are familiar to the human population such as the leaves of plants and the cells in the human body.

At first, he mentioned the 5 revolutions in biology: the microscope, the systematic classification, evolution, genetics and the structure of DNA. The microscope allowed us to see things that cannot be seen by the naked eye. It allowed us to gain the knowledge that there are very minute organisms existing in our environment which are responsible for some of the diseases that we are experiencing. The classification was a universal language that the people around the world use to determine the different organisms present in our environment. Evolution made us who we are today. Genetics and the structure of DNA dictate our morphology and why we look like this. Even these five revolutions mentioned were interrelated. Then, Stewart introduced another revolution, Mathematics. It made me notice that Mathematics is actually related to each of these five revolutions. In the magnification of the objective lens, the number of kingdoms and phyla that exist, the number of years before we have adapted the physical features we possess nowadays, in the number of chromosomes a normal human being possess, there is Mathematics. It made me see the direction where the author is headed to.

The first revolution of biology was initiated by the invention of lenses. It was the starting point of biology. The two types of lens are the telescope and the microscope. Telescope allows us to view far objects while microscope allows us to view very minute and small things that cannot be seen by the unaided eye. In this part of the book, the author also discussed the history of lenses. I liked the portion where the people in the past played with different types lenses to achieved the perfect glasses.

On the other hand, the Linnaean classification which was invented by the father of taxonomy, Carolus Linnaeus, served as a big drawer that organized the different organisms to the different kingdoms, phyla, classes, down to the lowest level of organization. This system is followed universally. Linnaeus was able to create a universal language. This makes it a big revolution in the course of life.

            Moreover, I really was amazed in the part where the natural patterns that exist in flower parts and animals were discussed. They actually follow the Fibonacci sequence. I was familiar with the Fibonacci sequence even in the past being a lover of Math. However, I never thought that even in the patterns that exist in living things, math is applied. It really proves that a strong bond and relationship exist between Math and Biology.

 The process of evolution, as discussed in the book, was told alongside with the history of how concepts of evolution were proposed. The author did great in arranging the concepts in the book in the way that at the end of each chapter, you already have a lot of knowledge in your mind. It also refreshes some of the knowledge that has been stuck for too long in the corners of our mind. This makes the book worth-reading by people at different ages.

 Apart from all the other evolutions, genetics and the structure of DNA are the revolutions with a very apparent relationship with Mathematics. In our Genetics class, we used to solve a lot of possible genotypes based on the Punnett square we have constructed from the word problems. I love Math but entering that part of genetics somehow made me hate why Math exists. However, genetics still opened up a lot of doors for many amazing discoveries most especially the understanding of the human body. We should thank Math for that.

I came across a lot of math-biology relationships in the book however the part that hit me hard was the part where a slime-mold was used to determine the best railroad route in Japan. They represented the cities with food and the mountains with light. They used representations closely associated to the each environment.  The path taken by the slime-mold gave them the idea of the most effective railroad route. It was so amazing. I hope that we, Filipinos, could learn from the Japanese. I never thought concepts in biology could help fix the problem in the railroad system but they did.

After reading the book, it felt like I just finished reading a biology book. It was because I think Math has and will forever have a strong relationship with life. Each of the five aforementioned revolutions would not have a strong foundation without Mathematics. It’s like they were interconnected by the bridges with strong foundation established by Mathematics. The author was successful in helping me cross those bridges and see the beauty of life.

Indeed, Math is inseparable to our life. We can never run away from it. Deal with it.