Discrete math - links to biology?

[S.N.]

Discrete math -- links to biology?

Hey,

I'm in a math and biology program in college and I've recently become more and more into the discrete side of math. I was wondering if anybody knew of any areas of research that integrate discrete mathematics and biology, as there doesn't seem to be much when I do a few searches. Pretty general question, I know, but is anyone aware of any offhand examples?

 

[Studiot]

Concrete or Discrete Math can seem a tad dry and academic but it does lead to useful results in Biology.

Probability, and the design of experiments has always been an important area.
Chaos theory and cellular automata.
Signal theory in nervous transmission.
Statistical mechanics, which is about how the random actions of lots of small things can bring about an aggregate effect or law, can be invoked to explain the workings and behaviour of biological and chemical systems.

 

[JSuarez]

You may want to take a look at these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_game_theory"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequence_alignment"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_phylogenetics"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levenshtein_distance"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compartmental_models_in_epidemiology"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_genetics"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioinformatics"

 

[S.N.]

Thanks guys, interesting stuff!

 

[CellCoree]

I can definitely say that there are many areas of research where discrete mathematics and biology intersect. One of the most prominent examples is in the field of bioinformatics, which uses computational methods and discrete math to analyze and interpret large biological data sets. This includes tasks such as sequence alignment, phylogenetic analysis, and protein structure prediction.

Another area where discrete math is applied in biology is in population genetics, where mathematical models are used to study the genetic variation and evolution of populations. This involves concepts such as discrete probability, graph theory, and combinatorics.

Additionally, discrete math is also used in ecological modeling, where mathematical models are used to study the interactions between species in an ecosystem. This includes concepts such as network theory, game theory, and dynamical systems.

Overall, the application of discrete mathematics in biology is vast and continues to grow as technology advances and new research questions arise. I would recommend looking into specific fields such as bioinformatics, population genetics, and ecological modeling for more specific examples and opportunities for research.