Biomathematics II: Pattern Formation in Biological Systems. 3 credits, 3 contact hours

Catalog description

Prerequisites: MATH 222 , MATH 331 , and MATH 337 , or departmental approval. Emergence of spatial and temporal order in biological and ecological systems: Hopf and Turing bifurcation in reaction-diffusion systems, how do zebras get their stripes, patterns on snake skins and butterfly wings, spatial organization in the visual cortex, symmetry breaking in hormonal interactions, how do the ovaries count. Basic techniques of mathematics are introduced and applied to significant biological phenomena that cannot be fully understood without their use.