In the common view of the sciences, physics and chemistry 
are thought to be heavily dependent on mathematics, while 
biology is often seen as a science  which only in a minor way 
leans on quantitative methods.  Therefore students intending 
to study biology generally do not feel a need to prepare themselves 
with courses in mathematics. Once that may have been true, 
but today the situation has substantially changed.


In contemporary biology there are many areas which depend 
heavily on rather advanced mathematics.  This site 
demonstrates a few of these. In models of populations, 
with and without predators, iteration of a difference equation 
is a technique which enables the biologist to predict the 
effect of different parameters on the growth of the
population. Similar techniques can be used to build simple 
and complex models of the propagation of disease.  Students 
who do not have a fundamental grasp of differential equations 
will not be able to understand these powerful tools. The 
examples on this site are only a small selection of the areas 
of biology in which mathematics plays a crucial role.  


Because of the importance of mathematics in contemporary biology 
it is vital that prospective students of the biological sciences 
get as good a background in mathematics as they can. The math 
courses that are taken in high school form the basis of a 
student's mathematical future. Thus all students who are thinking 
that they may study a biological science should avail themselves 
of all the math courses which are open to them while they are 
in high school.  Four full years of high school math are a 
requirement for any student who might want to pursue a career 
involving biology.  Only with this preparation will they be able 
to take the advanced mathematics courses in college that they 
will need to be sucessful in any biological field.