Basic Mathematics for Biochemists

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

   PDF

2. The Language of Mathematics

   • Athel Cornish-Bowden

   Pages 1-23

3. Exponents and Logarithms

   • Athel Cornish-Bowden

   Pages 24-47

4. Differential Calculus

   • Athel Cornish-Bowden

   Pages 48-71

5. Integral Calculus

   • Athel Cornish-Bowden

   Pages 72-90

6. Solving Equations

   • Athel Cornish-Bowden

   Pages 91-116

7. Partial Differentiation

   • Athel Cornish-Bowden

   Pages 117-125

8. Back Matter

   Pages 126-137

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Some teachers of biochemistry think it positively beneficial for students to struggle with difficult mathematics. I do not number myself among these people, although I have derived much personal pleasure from the study of mathematics and from applying it to problems that interest me in biochemistry. On the contrary, I think that students choose courses in biochemistry out of interest in biochemistry and that they should not be encumbered with more mathematics than is absolutely required for a proper understanding of biochemistry. This of course includes physical chemistry, because a biochemist ignorant of physical chemistry is no biochemist. I have been guided by these beliefs in writing this book. I have laid heavy emphasis on those topics, such as the use of logarithms, that play an important role in biochemistry and often cause problems in teaching; I have ignored others, such as trigonometry, that one can manage without. The proper treatment of statistics has been more difficult to decide. Although it clearly plays an important part in all experi­ mental sciences, it is usually preferable to treat it as a subject in its own right and not to try to incorporate it into a course of elementary mathematics. In this book, therefore, I have used a few examples from statistics to illustrate more general points, but I have not discussed it for its own sake.

• base
• biochemistry
• chemistry
• differential equation
• geometry
• mathematics
• physical chemistry
• statistics

• University of Birmingham, UK

  Athel Cornish-Bowden

Policies and ethics