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Fundamental Mathematics for Life Sciences

11 July 2019

Do you want to extract more value from your data? Do you know how to interpret your results? Do you want to choose the best program to analyze your data? Come to Şirince in September to learn how.

On the first week of September we will present two courses of Mathematics for Biologists at Nesin Matemati̇k Köyü. Both courses will run in parallel, Probabilities in the morning and Linear Algebra in the afternoon. This way we can learn theory and practice hand-to-hand, and save some money.

The idea is to learn the mathematical tools and concepts that young biologists will need to do high-impact science in the 21st century. Researchers need to’ understand and use mathematical models that allow them to interpret their results and add value to their science. Sometimes they have to create new models.

Logic and Probabilities

Probabilities is “the logic of science”, a way to think logically when we do not have access to all the information. In this course you will learn the concepts at the core of many important models. You will learn classical logic and how to extended it to probabilities. Then you will learn the meaning of conditional probability and independence, join probability, variance, entropy and Bayes Theorem.

This base will allow you to understand the Law of large numbers, the Central Limit Theorem, and some classical distributions commonly used in biology. If time allows, we will talk about Parametric statistical inference, in particular, confidence intervals and Hypothesis testing.

Matrices and Linear Algebra

The new generation of scientists need to understand how, when, and why to use applied mathematical tools, such as analytic geometry, matrices, and graphs. In other words, scientists need to know the fundamentals of linear algebra.

In the second course we will learn about discrete-time linear dynamical systems, such as ecosystems, cell metabolism, gene regulation, and microscopes. We use vectors to represent the system state, and matrices to represent its transformations.

You will learn about the geometric interpretation of vectors and operations, such as dot product, and determinants. Then we will talk about matrix inversion, linear independence, and the real meaning of dimension.

The main applications are descriptive statistics and multivariate linear regression using least squares. If time allows us, we will also talk about the analysis of graphs, eigenvalues, and Markov chains.

How to attend

Both courses are part of the Nesin Matematik Köyü’s “Undergraduate and Graduate Summer School”. You can start your registration by filling the form and following the instructions. Make sure to select “2 Eylül Haftası”. More details can be found at the summer school webpage.

The Matematik Köyü is located 1 km away from the village of Sirince (Izmir - Selcuk), at the top of the mountain, in a lush green environment. Simple and sincere. Houses made of stone, mud and straw. Apart from cicadas, away from all kinds of disturbing elements that prevent concentration and thinking. No TV, no music. But there are traces of civilization like electricity, hot water and the Internet. It is an ideal working, meeting and relaxation environment.