Math 151 - Fall 2006

Mathematics for the Life Sciences


NOTICE regarding 3-digit code for COMPETE: If you did not get a 3-digit class code during the first class meeting, you pick it up a from my office door (639 Science and Engineering on the Hill), or wait until Monday's class. This code will be used, rather than your UT ID number, for posting any grades for this class. You should note the code for your records and bring the small sheet to class on Tuesday - write your name and email address on the sheet which will be turned in to your TA. For the COMPETE login, you can use any number you wish for the password set up - it does not have to be your ID# or the suggested number plus the code noted in the information on COMPETE below.

NOTICE regarding the COMPETE exam: this is not being graded and does not count as part of the course grade. It is to your benefit to make certain that you either score well on this exam the first time you take it (a score of 20 out of 25 or better) or else you devote some time to going over the tutorials on questions that you did not correctly answer. This exam covers background high-school level mathematics that is considered pre-requisite to this course and Math152. One of the pages that describes calculator syntax is broken - an alternative one is at Calculator Syntax

NOTICE regarding MatLab: There is a Freeware version of Matlab called Octave that is available for most operating systems (the Octave web site is here ) and which runs most Matlab commands. I have tried several of my .m files on it (using the Mac OS X version) and it runs OK. If you wish to have a program similar to Matlab on your personal computer, this is one option.

NOTICE regarding EXAM 2 and help sessions: There is a sample Exam in the Course Supplement on pages 30-32. In addition to the type of problems on this sample and to those in the homework assignments, you can expect that there will be a problem on the Exam similar to one of the exponential growth or decay, semi-log or log-log problems covered for the first Exam. You are urged to try the Sample Exam after we meet on Wednesday October 11. The class period on Monday October 16 will be spent going over any questions about the material to be covered on this exam. I will hold an extra help session on Monday evening October 16 from 5:30-7:00 in the lecture hall (Buehler 300).

NOTICE regarding EXAM 2. There was confusion about Problem #4 on the Exam (the problem that used a semi-log graph). The solution to this problem did not depend upon what base you assumed for the semi-log graph for the log scaled vertical axis. However, since there was confusion over this, all students will be given an opportunity to retake problem #4 at the start of the lab class on Tuesday Oct 24. You will have 10 minutes to redo this problem and the higher of the two scores on this problem will be used in your test grade. You will NOT be told your score on the original exam beforehand - so it will be in your best interest to retake the problem - it cannot decrease your exam grade and may increase it.

NOTICE regarding EXAM 3 and help sessions: In Sample Exam 3 in the Course Supplement, there are two incorrect answers on the answer sheet: the answer to Problem 2 b is 1/4 and the answer to Problem 8 c is 7.69%. In addition to a review during the class period on Monday Nov. 13, I will hold an extra help session on Monday evening Nov. 13 from 5:30-7:00 in the lecture hall.

NOTICE regarding course evaluations: Evaluations of the TAs will be done in class using written forms. These should be filled out based upon your opinions of the efforts of your TA in assitaing you to carry out the course work. The overall evaluation of the course and of Dr. Gross is being conducted using the on-line SAIS system which you can access at the online Student Assessment of Instruction System . This on-line evaluation will be available for you to complete until midnight on December 8, and I would appreciate it if you would complete this.

NOTICE REGARDING FINAL EXAM AND ADDITIONAL HELP SESSION - Look at Notes on FINAL EXAM for Math151 for summary of my comments in class about the Final Exam.

  • Sample Final Exam Pages 1 and 2 PDF File
  • Sample Final Exam Page 3 PDF File
  • Sample Final Exam - Answers PDF File - 2 pages


    Assignments

    COMPETE Pre-Calculus On-line Exam (Due Sept. 6)
    Assignment1 - Project#1 (Due Aug. 29)
    Assignment2 - Project#2 (Due Aug. 29)
    Assignment3 - (Due Sept. 5)
    Assignment4 - (Due Sept. 5)
    Assignment5 - (Due Sept. 12)
    Assignment6 - (Due Sept. 12)
    Assignment7 - (Due Sept. 12)
    Assignment8 - Project #3 (Due by 5PM Sept. 27 in your TA's mailbox in Ayres Hall) I have posted a Matlab .m file that does all the calculations for this project here which should ease doing this project once you have collected the data. I expect that you will look at the Matlab code and understand what it is doing at each step of the calculations. Note that this project has 3 parts - do all three. Parts I and II utilize data you collect and count as one project and Part III utilizes data from a scientific article and counts as an additional project.
    Assignment9 - (Due Oct. 3)
    Assignment10 - (Due Oct. 10)
    Assignment11 - (Due Oct. 10)
    Assignment12 - (CHANGED DUE DATE _ now due by 5PM Thursday Oct. 26 in your TA's mailbox in Ayres Hall) - Project#4 I have posted a Matlab .m file that does all the calculations for this project here Note that you will still need to change the "q" parameter in the matrix P (this is currently set to .7 in the program) as well as change the "F" parameter (this is set to .1 currently in the program) for each run of the model.
    Assignment13 - (Due Oct. 24)
    Assignment14 - (Due Oct. 31)
    Assignment15 - (Due Nov. 7)
    Assignment16 - (Due Nov. 7)
    Assignment17 - (Due Nov. 14)
    Project #5 using Matlab (Due Nov. 21) . You may need to use the Matlab program ranleslie2.m if the version of Matlab you have does not recognize the geomean function in ranleslie.m
    Assignment18 - (Due Nov. 21)
    Assignment19 - (Due Nov. 28)
    Example Drug Dosage problem
    Assignment20 (Due Nov. 28)


    Extra Credit Project

    There is a extra credit project available for those who wish to pursue it, with the description at Extra Credit project on Harvesting a Stochastically-growing Population and the Matlab code to assist you in carrying out this project is at harvestopt.m. Note that the time period simulated in the Matlab code is 300 time steps. To count for extra credit, this project must be turned in to your TA's mailbox in Ayres Hall by 5PM on Tuesday December 5. If you complete this project, the effect will be to simply add overall points to your grade, based upon how well the project is done, up to 4 points. Thus someone with a course average of 78 (C+ grade) who does the project very well would have 4 points added to bring the grade up to 82 (B grade in the course).

    Grade Results

    Exam 1 Summary
    Exam 2 Summary



    MATLAB Files

    Quick Intro to Matlab (PDF file)
    Longer Matlab Primer (PDF file 213KB)
    Online Matlab tutorial from Univ of Utah (Web page)
    Listing of Matlab files for this course sequence and codes (Web page)


    Height Analysis Project (Project #2)

    Data set of responses (Text file - with no identifying information)
    heightanalysis.m (Matlab .m file of commands to analyze height data)

    Some Lecture notes

    Introduction to Biological Data Analysis and Statistics
    Basic Descriptive Statistics
    Constructing Histograms and Regressions
    Linear Data Analysis and Correlations
    Linear regression and correlation calculations
    Exponentials, logarithms, rescaling of data and log-log and semilog plots
    Additional Powerpoint lecture notes on Exponentials, logarithms, rescaling of data and log-log and semilog plots
    Introduction to matrices
    Introduction to Eigenectors and Eigenvalues
    Longer Introduction to Eigenectors and Eigenvalues and Matlab code for Ecobeaker landscape succession example is marsucc.m
    Chance, Determinism and Biology: Introduction
    Drug testing example of Bayes Theorem
    Discrete-time models in biology

    References cited in lectures

    List of papers mentioned in lectures as examples of applications of math to life sciences

    Tutorial help

    Math Department Tutorial Center Home page
    Registration form for UTK Library Workshops including ones on the Web of Science and Biological Abstracts use
    Office of Disability Services with detailed information on services available to students with disabilities


    Web resources related to mathematics and biology

    Society for Mathematical Biology
    Modules applying elementary mathematics to various topics in General Biology
    Resources for Mathematics Education for Biology Students
    UTK Mathematical Life Sciences Page for Education
    How does Biology affect Mathematics? (Essay for Mathematics Awareness Month Home Page)
    Mathematics and Ecology (Essay for Mathematics Awareness Month Home Page)
    Mathematics in Biology (Science On-Line Page)

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