Mathematical Models of Social Evolution: A Guide for the Perplexed

Richard McElreath,Robert Boyd

ISBN 10: 0226558274 / ISBN 13: 9780226558271

Published by University of Chicago Press March 2007, 2007

About this Item

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Seller Inventory # 532814

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Mathematical Models of Social Evolution: A Guide for the Perplexed
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press March 2007
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226558274
• ISBN 13: 9780226558271
• Binding: Trade Paperback
• Condition: USED Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • RARE Annex General

About this title

Synopsis

Over the last several decades, mathematical models have become central to the study of social evolution, both in biology and the social sciences. But students in these disciplines often seriously lack the tools to understand them. A primer on behavioral modeling that includes both mathematics and evolutionary theory, Mathematical Models of Social Evolution aims to make the student and professional researcher in biology and the social sciences fully conversant in the language of the field.

Teaching biological concepts from which models can be developed, Richard McElreath and Robert Boyd introduce readers to many of the typical mathematical tools that are used to analyze evolutionary models and end each chapter with a set of problems that draw upon these techniques. Mathematical Models of Social Evolution equips behaviorists and evolutionary biologists with the mathematical knowledge to truly understand the models on which their research depends. Ultimately, McElreath and Boyd’s goal is to impart the fundamental concepts that underlie modern biological understandings of the evolution of behavior so that readers will be able to more fully appreciate journal articles and scientific literature, and start building models of their own.

About the Authors

Richard McElreath is associate professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis.

Robert Boyd is professor of anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Prolific authors and editors, they coauthored Culture and the Evolutionary Process, published by the University of Chicago Press.