May Robert M
Zoology Department, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.
Science. 2004 Feb 6;303(5659):790-3. doi: 10.1126/science.1094442.
In the physical sciences, mathematical theory and experimental investigation have always marched together. Mathematics has been less intrusive in the life sciences, possibly because they have until recently been largely descriptive, lacking the invariance principles and fundamental natural constants of physics. Increasingly in recent decades, however, mathematics has become pervasive in biology, taking many different forms: statistics in experimental design; pattern seeking in bioinformatics; models in evolution, ecology, and epidemiology; and much else. I offer an opinionated overview of such uses--and abuses.
在物理科学中，数学理论与实验研究一直齐头并进。数学在生命科学中的介入较少，这可能是因为直到最近，生命科学在很大程度上仍主要是描述性的，缺乏物理学中的不变性原理和基本自然常数。然而，近几十年来，数学在生物学中变得无处不在，呈现出多种不同形式：实验设计中的统计学；生物信息学中的模式寻找；进化、生态学和流行病学中的模型；等等。我将对这些应用——以及滥用情况——给出一个带有个人观点的概述。
