Mathematics for informatics and bioinformatics

Authors Peter Hauck, Wolfgang Küchlin, Manfred P. H. Wolff, Manfred P. H. Wolff

Publication date 29 November 2004

bioinformatics computer science mathematics

Mathematics for nonmathematicians (engineering, social sciences, etc.) (00A06) Introductory exposition (textbooks, tutorial papers, etc.) pertaining to computer science (68-01)

Review text

This book contains a collection of mathematical topics of importance to computer scientists. It was designed as a textbook for a course in the recently introduced degree program Bioinformatics at the University Tübingen. In addition to topics taken from traditional two-semester introductory courses in analysis and linear algebra, which make up the bulk of the book, introductions to discrete mathematics, abstract algebra, and stochastic processes are also included. The presentation is rigorous, with proofs for almost all results. Many illustrative examples of the mathematical concepts are presented. Comprehensive books of this type always find it difficult to treat the subject in depth and sometimes present little more than a string of definitions and examples. A notorious topic in this respect is graph theory. The book under review does a reasonably good job of presenting substantial results together with the definitions, especially in the chapters on analysis and linear algebra, less so for graph theory. While the title suggests that the book is specifically designed for computer science and bioinformatics students, there are relatively few examples of applications to these fields. Examples from coding theory and cryptography appear in the sections on abstract algebra and linear algebra. A brief explanation of sequence alignment in the last chapter (on stochastic processes) serves as the sole bioinformatics application. An innovative feature of the book is an accompanying website which contains a collection of Java applets that serve to visualize many of the concepts discussed in the book. The user can also view video clips from the authors' lectures.

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