Algebraic and Discrete Mathematical Methods for Modern Biology

Written by experts in both mathematics and biology, Algebraic and Discrete Mathematical Methods for Modern Biology offers a bridge between math and biology, providing a framework for simulating, analyzing, predicting, and modulating the behavior of complex biological systems. Each chapter begins with a question from modern biology, followed by the description of certain mathematical methods and theory appropriate in the search of answers. Every topic provides a fast-track pathway through the problem by presenting the biological foundation, covering the relevant mathematical theory, and highlighting connections between them. Many of the projects and exercises embedded in each chapter utilize specialized software, providing students with much-needed familiarity and experience with computing applications, critical components of the "modern biology" skill set. This book is appropriate for mathematics courses such as finite mathematics, discrete structures, linear algebra, abstract/modern algebra, graph theory, probability, bioinformatics, statistics, biostatistics, and modeling, as well as for biology courses such as genetics, cell and molecular biology, biochemistry, ecology, and evolution.

• Examines significant questions in modern biology and their mathematical treatments
• Presents important mathematical concepts and tools in the context of essential biology
• Features material of interest to students in both mathematics and biology
• Presents chapters in modular format so coverage need not follow the Table of Contents
• Introduces projects appropriate for undergraduate research
• Utilizes freely accessible software for visualization, simulation, and analysis in modern biology
• Requires no calculus as a prerequisite
• Provides a complete Solutions Manual
• Features a companion website with supplementary resources

Raina Robeva was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. She holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Virginia and is a Professor of Mathematics and a Karl E. Peace Fellow in Mathematics at Randolph-Macon College in the United States. Her current research is in the broad fields of mathematical and systems biology. In addition to editing this second edition, she has authored and edited several books, including A Bridge to Higher Mathematics (CRC Press, 2024), Algebraic and Combinatorial Computational Biology (Academic Press, 2019), and Algebraic and Discrete Mathematical Methods for Modern Biology (Academic Press, 2015). She has chaired the Advisory Board of the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS), led the Committee on Special Interest Groups of the Mathematical Association of America, and served for over a decade as the founding Editor-in-Chief of Frontiers in Systems Biology.