Modeling Life

​Alan Garfinkel received his undergraduate degree from Cornell in Mathematics and Philosophy,and a PhD from Harvard in Philosophy and Mathematics. After some years of practicing philosophy of science, Garfinkel transitioned to medical research, applying qualitative dynamics to phenomena in medicine and physiology. Along with James Weiss and Zhilin Qu, he studies cardiac arrhythmias from the point of view of nonlinear dynamics.Jane Shevtsov earned her BS in Ecology, Behavior and Evolution from UCLA, and her PhD in Ecology from the University of Georgia. Her main research interests lie in mathematical models of food webs and ecosystems.Yina Guo received her PhD from Nankai University in Control Engineering. Her PhD thesis used partial differential equations to explain the branching structure of the lung. Her computer simulations of branching processes were featured on the cover of the Journal of Physiology. She is particularly interested in the use of graphics and visualization techniques in both research and teaching.

“The book can serve as an introduction to the field of modeling not only for university students but for any person interested in the field with little or no knowledge of calculus. … This book is a very interesting deviation from this prevailing paradigm. It takes the essence of calculus and presents it in a way which is accessible and usable in the practice of life sciences professionals.” (Svetoslav Markov, zbMATH 1397.92001, 2018)

• 1. Modeling, Change, and Simulation.- 2. Derivatives and Integrals.- 3. Equilibrium Behavior.- 4. Non-Equilibrium Dynamics: Oscillation.- 5. Chaos.- 6. Linear Algebra.- 7. Multivariable Systems.- Bibliography.- Index.