Fractals and Chaos Simplified for the Life Sciences [Paperback]

Larry S. Liebovitch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 8, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0195120248 | ISBN-13: 978-0195120240 | Edition: 1

Fractals and chaos are currently generating excitement across various scientific and medical disciplines. Biomedical investigators, graduate students, and undergraduates are becoming increasingly interested in applying fractals and chaos (nonlinear dynamics) to a variety of problems in biology and medicine. This accessible text lucidly explains these concepts and illustrates their uses with examples from biomedical research. The author presents the material in a very unique, straightforward manner which avoids technical jargon and does not assume a strong background in mathematics. The text uses a step-by-step approach by explaining one concept at a time in a set of facing pages, with text on the left page and graphics on the right page; the graphics pages can be copied directly onto transparencies for teaching. Ideal for courses in biostatistics, fractals, mathematical modeling of biological systems, and related courses in medicine, biology, and applied mathematics, Fractals and Chaos Simplified for the Life Sciences will also serve as a useful resource for scientists in biomedicine, physics, chemistry, and engineering.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Excellent programmed text on chaos. Clearer than most other sources I've seen. Good biological examples."--David Katerndahl, MD, University of Texas HSC-San Antonio

About the Author

Larry S. Liebovitch is at Center for Complex Systems, Florida Atlantic University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (January 8, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195120248
• ISBN-13: 978-0195120240
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #781,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent! Make it a permanent part of your Library!!, June 22, 2010

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This review is from: Fractals and Chaos Simplified for the Life Sciences (Paperback)

This book is amazing. It should be a requisite book of anybody who is interested in Fractals and Chaos Theory, whether they be a student in High School or an expert in rigorous mathematics. The book jumps right to the important points and conclusions of this beautiful area of mathematics, and develops intuition without resorting to mathematical rigor, which is a boon to any beginner.

This book makes a solid introduction to Fractals and Chaos Theory, and should allow any motivated student in this area to later jump to more mathematically/technically rigorous textbooks later. For students in biological and medical sciences, whom may only have limited mathematical training compared to students of other disciplines (Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, etc..), this should be a required book to read. More and more current research is indicating that biological systems - Immune system, Heart Dynamics, Vision - are fundamentally ruled and described by chaos and fractal based processes. The book goes over several biological applications, and does a great job of calibrating the student to the promise that this area of mathematics will revolutionize our understanding of biology and medicine in addition to highlighting specific open research questions to help focus the thoughts of the motivated student.

Overall, get this book ASAP!!!!!