Modeling the Dynamics of Life teaches calculus, with additional chapters on probability and statistics, as a way of introducing freshman and sophomore life science majors to the insights mathematics can provide into biology. Why should there be a speial book for this audience? Although the importance of quantitative skills in the life sciences in much discussed, current realittes tend to conceal their vital role.

oo often, biology is the natural science of last resort for students who believe "they aren't cut out for math." Most colleges and universities require little calaulus for their biology majors, and those that require a full calculus course doubt its worth when students emerge unable to apply even precalculu mathematics in new contexts. Students are left with similar doudts when the techniques they learned for tests vanish as swiftly from the curriculum as from thir memories. Students, biology faculty, and administrators see that biology is burgeoning as a science and as a major, apparently unhindered by pervasive mathematical illiteracy.

Chapter 1 Introduction to Discrete-Time Dynamical Systems
Chapter 2 Limits and Derivatives
Chapter 3 Applications of Derivatives and Dynamical Systems
Chapter 4 Differential Equations, Integrals, and Their Applications
Chapter 5 Analysis of Differential Equations
Chapter 6 Probability Theory and Descriptive Statistics
Chapter 7 Probability Models
Chapter 8 Introduction to Statistical Reasoning