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Chance in Biology: Using Probability to Explore Nature (Paperback)

by Mark Denny (Author), Steven Gaines (Author) "Spider silk is an amazing material..." (more)
Key Phrases: compatibility alleles, sarcastic fringehead, marked deer, National League, Rhode Island, Cocktail Party Problem (more...)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

List Price:	$61.00
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Editorial Reviews

Review
A fantastic book. Indeed, one would be hard-pressed to find a more readable and lucid introduction to probability theory. -- Gary B. Gillis , Journal of Experimental Biology

Excellent introduction to the uses of probability theory for a reader who is more familiar with biology than with mathematics. -- Paul Janmey, Nature Cell Biology

This is a fantastic book. Indeed, one would be hard-pressed to find a more readable and lucid introduction to probability theory. -- Review

Review
An excellent introduction to the uses of probability theory for a reader who is more familiar with biology than with mathematics . . . Denny and Gaines have done a valuable service to biologists who are interested in a quantitative approach to life sciences.
(Paul Janmey Nature Cell Biology )

A lively, well-written text. . . . A student who reads this book closely will come away with a much deeper appreciation for the universality of diffusion mechanics in science, the deep connections between the distributions central to inferential statistics, the importance of extreme events and how to deal with them analytically, and, most importantly, the power and limitations inherent in the underpinning of the inferential statistics that the student has learned elsewhere.
(Mark R. Patterson American Scientist )

This is a fantastic book. Indeed, one would be hard-pressed to find a more readable and lucid introduction to probability theory.
(Gary B. Gillis Journal of Experimental Biology )

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Product Details

Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Princeton University Press (September 3, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0691094942
ISBN-13: 978-0691094946
Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #846,693 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
Spider silk is an amazing material. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
compatibility alleles, sarcastic fringehead, marked deer, compatibility locus, absorbing disks, inbred offspring, tilt signal, continuous sample space, standard normal probability density function, protein rubber, stochastic resonance, diffusive spread, cumulative probability curve, root mean square amplitude, absorbing wall, rod cell, league average, elastic potential energy, overall conductance, transformed distribution, geometric random variable

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
National League, Rhode Island, Cocktail Party Problem, Farmer Bob, Lord Rayleigh, United States

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 40 books:

Random Walks in Biology by Howard C. Berg in Front Matter, and Back Matter
Probability: An Introduction with Statistical Applications by John J. Kinney in Back Matter
Cartoon Guide to Statistics by Larry Gonick in Back Matter
Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics (McGraw-Hill Series in Fundamentals of Physics) by Frederick Reif in Back Matter
Biostatistical Analysis (4th Edition) by Jerrold H. Zar in Back Matter

See all 40 books this book cites

5 books cite this book:

An Introduction to Financial Option Valuation: Mathematics, Stochastics and Computation by Desmond Higham in Back Matter
Mathematical Models in Biology (Classics in Applied Mathematics) by Leah Edelstein-Keshet in Front Matter
Mathematics in Nature: Modeling Patterns in the Natural World by John A. Adam in Back Matter
Math & Bio 2010: Linking Undergraduate Disciplines by Lynn Arthur Steen in Back Matter
Comparative Biomechanics: Life's Physical World by Steven Vogel in Back Matter

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	81% buy the item featured on this page: Chance in Biology: Using Probability to Explore Nature 5.0 out of 5 stars (2) $61.00
	11% buy How the Ocean Works: An Introduction to Oceanography 5.0 out of 5 stars (2) $35.10
	8% buy Random Walks in Biology 4.2 out of 5 stars (4) $31.50

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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Math Applied to Biology, October 9, 2002

By A Customer

*Chance in Biology* is one of the best science books I have ever read (and I have read quite a few of them). This book applies probability theory (along with other topics in math and physics) to biological phenomena. A big PLUS for this book is that the authors intentionally wrote the book to be accessible to an educated but nonspecialized audience.

I really enjoyed the authors' discussion of random walks applied to 'genetic drift' (the likelihood that offsprings' genomes will be different than their parents') and a surprising application of probability theory to elastic materials found in nature.

I also enjoyed their chapter on the probability of extreme phenomena -- which is an obviously useful topic that gets short shrift in many probability and statistics books I have seen. They even use baseball statistics in that chapter!

Another interesting part of this book was the discussion and the practice problems dealing with Bayes' Theorem. The concepts discussed in this book is something that all health care officials and lawyers should familiarize themselves with.

Some caveats about the book:

(a) The reader should be familiar with the 1st year of college calculus. While it is is possible that someone with only an understanding of algebra can get a lot out of the book, the calculus would help. I should note that you do not need to know a lot of calculus and someone who is 'mathophobic' could still get a lot out of the book.

(b) This book does not deal too much with inferential statistics. This book focuses in on probability, which is the cornerstone of statistics. However, when it does touch upon inferential statistics, it does a superb job.

(c) I wish the authors spent a little bit of time going over Markov Chains (random walks is a type of Markov Chain and the book does deal with that but without talking about MC explicitly). But that is a minor complaint.

Rounding out my praise for this book is the fact that most of the chapters have practice problems and ALL of the problems have solutions to them at the back of the book. I can't even begin to tell you how great having all of the solutions for all of the problems is for self-study/comprehension. The problems provided are no 'toy problems' either ... they are actually extremely helpful in not only testing one's grasps of the materials but also in illuminating and extending the points made in the particular chapter.

Other miscellanous positive things about *Chance in Biology*:

- a sample MATLAB program to simulate random phenomenon (in the solution to one of the practice problems)

- a chapter that deals with 'noise' .... interesting for those interested in Chaos

- authors make an excellent distinction between non-deterministic random/stochastic phenomena vs. deterministic Chaos

- many more good things!!!

Bottom-line: If you are at all interested in probability, applied math, physics, chemistry, or biology, you should buy this book.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Biology illuminated by physics, November 17, 2001

By	Vincent P. Gutschick "Hopeful Cynic" (Las Cruces, NM USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Chance in Biology (Hardcover)

Biology progressed from natural history to its great depth and breadth in part from the inclusion of truly quantitative ideas from math, physics, and chemistry. The mantle of greatest expositor of these ideas in recent times may have passed from Stephen Vogel (his excellent books are well worth reading) to Mark Denny. Here, with Steven Gaines, he takes us into extreme events, the limits of our ability to hear and to see, the elasticity of spider silk, and more. The math is demanding, but it should be; Denny and Gaines make no bones about it, but reward the reader. Denny's book, Air and Water, is equally a pleasure to read.

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