Biological Modeling and Simulation: A Survey of Practical Models, Algorithms, and Numerical Methods

Citation

Hutton, D.M. (2009), "Biological Modeling and Simulation: A Survey of Practical Models, Algorithms, and Numerical Methods", Kybernetes, Vol. 38 No. 3/4, pp. 661-661. https://doi.org/10.1108/03684920910944894

Cyberneticians and particulary biocyberneticians need all the expertise that can be mustered to give information about using mathematical models in researches and developments in biological systems. There are, of course, a number of texts that provide introductions to the field but many are not sufficiently mathematical in concept and certainly many have been superceded by the advent of new computational methods. The computational biologists of the future need new literature and this book does attempt to provide a strategy that will undoubtedly improve their grasp of some of the innovative methodologies that have appeared in the field of modelling, algorithmic construction and numerical methods. Russell Schwartz has tackled the challenge of producing an up‐to‐date survey of these approaches with some gusto.

Readers of this book are shown how to approach biological systems using more formal mathematical models that are able to be used on modern computing systems. To do this, they are introduced to a collection of appropriate models and associated algorithms. It helps that the author provides explanations of the models that are designed for optimization and simulation. Most useful are the sections where the author discusses the formulation and choice of mathematical model to fit the biological system. This discussion is backed by illustrative examples and studies that explain how the chosen methods are used in many biological systems that occur in practical use.

The book will be useful for those working in this field as well as for those who required to introduce these techniques in their teaching and educational work. It does bring together many aspects of modelling and simulation that are normally found in a variety of different texts and having this survey under one cover is itself. If a recommendation for having access to this title.