Mathematics as a tool in the Life Sciences

Abstract

Teaching mathematics to students in the biological sciences is often fraught with difficulty. Students often discover mathematics to be a very ‘dry’ subject in which it is difficult to see the motivation of learning it given its often abstract application. In this paper I advocate the use of mathematical modelling as a method for engaging students in understanding the use of mathematics in helping to solve problems in the Biological Sciences. The concept of mathematics as a laboratory tool is introduced and the importance of presenting students with relevant, real-world examples of applying mathematics in the Biological Sciences is discussed.