Math 151 - Fall 2007

Mathematics for the Life Sciences



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 the Quiz on Thursday September 27: This quiz will have a problem very similar to the last problem on the first exam and the last problem on the sample exam (a semi-log example). The quiz will count twice a standard quiz and if you do not take the quiz it will count as the two quizes which are dropped in computing your course grade.

NOTICE - UT is sponsoring a Women in Science Symposium on October 15-16. You are encouraged to attending this to gain insight into the opportunities and challenges of careers in science. Details are here Note that this includes free food and a reception at the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame . Another opportunity to learn about science opportunities will be October 28-29 DOE Day of Science sponsored by the Department of Energy at the Knoxville Convention Center.

NOTICE - Regarding Exam 2, I have posted an additional sample exam below with brief answers. Note that problems like problem #4 on this sample exam and problem #4 on the Sample Exam 2 in the course supplement will not be included on this exam (e.g. no semi-log or log-log graphs nor applications to solving linear systems of equations). There will be an additional help session in the lecture hall (BU300) from 6-8 Wednesday evening October 17.

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 Wednesday Nov. 14, I will hold an extra help session on Wednesday evening Nov. 14 from 5:30-7:30PM in Physics 415 on the Hill.

NOTICE regarding Project#5 (due Tuesday Nov 20): someone pointed out to me that the posted project description had an incorrect entry in the P matrix ( a 1 instead of a 0 in the last row, last column for survivorship of adults). I corrected this on the project sheet, but if you were using the ranleslie.m or ranles2.m files, these were correct (as long as you didn't change that entry in the P matrix - it was set to 0 in the .m file). If you happened to change the P matrix and have completed the project, don't worry - just make sure that you have stated what the P matrix is that you used in the report. If you have not yet done the project, or have used the posted .m files, then you don't need to do anything about this - just complete the project as assigned.

NOTICE: EXTRA REVIEW SESSIONS FOR FINAL - Dr. Gross will hold these in Buehler Hall Room 555 from 5:30 - 7:30 PM on Tuesday Dec 11 and in Buehler Hall Room 300 (our usual lecture hall) from 2:30 - 3:30 on Wed Dec 12.



Assignments

COMPETE Pre-Calculus On-line Exam (Due Sept. 6)
Assignment1 - Project#1 (Due Aug. 22)
Assignment2 - Project#2 (Due Aug. 28)
Assignment3 - (Due Aug. 30)
Assignment4 - (Due September 6)
Assignment5 (This is from Sections 5 and 15 in the text)- (Due September 13)
Assignment6 - (Due September 13)
Assignment7 - (Due September 13)
Assignment8 - (Due by 5PM October 2 in your TAs mailbox in Ayres Hall. Note that this project has 2 parts - do both Parts I and II which utilize data you collect and count as a single project)
Assignment9 - (Due October 4)
Assignment10 - (Due October 4)
Assignment11 - (Due October 15)
Assignment12 - Project #4 (Due by 5PM Friday October 26 in your TAs mailbox in Ayres Hall).
Assignment13 - (Due October 25)
Assignment14 - (Due November 1)
Assignment15 - (Due November 8)
Assignment16 - (Due November 8)
Project #5 using Matlab (Due by Tuesday Nov. 20 at 5PM in your TA's mailbox in Ayres) . 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
Assignment17 - (Due November 15)
Assignment18 - (Due November 29)
Assignment19 - (Due November 29)
Example Drug Dosage problem
Example Drug Dosage problem - Answer (pdf file)
Assignment 20 - (Due November 29)


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. To count for extra credit, this project must be turned in to your TA's mailbox in Ayres Hall by 5PM on Tuesday December 4. 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 3 points. Thus someone with a course average of 78 (C+ grade) who does the project very well would have 3 points added to bring the grade up to 81 (B grade in the course).


Sample Exams (see also practice exams in Course Supplement)

Sample Practice Exam I from previous year (pdf file)
Sample Practice Exam I answers (pdf file)
Sample Practice Exam II from previous year (pdf file)
Sample Practice Exam II answers (pdf file)
Sample Practice Exam III from previous year (pdf file)
Sample Practice Exam III answers (pdf file)
Earlier Sample Final Exam Pages 1 and 2 (pdf file)
Earlier Sample Final Exam Page 3 (pdf file)
Earlier Sample Final Exam - Answers (pdf file - 2 pages)
Final Exam - Fall 2006 (pdf file)
Final Exam - Fall 2006 - Answers (pdf file)


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 (Web page) ------ (pdf file)
Basic Descriptive Statistics (Web page) ------(pdf file)
Constructing Histograms and Bar Charts and Intro to Regression (Web page) ------(pdf file)
Linear Data Analysis and Correlations (Web page) ------(pdf file)
Linear Regression and Correlation Calculations (pdf file)
Exponentials, logarithms, rescaling of data and log-log and semilog plots (Web page) ------(pdf file)
Additional Powerpoint lecture notes on Exponentials, logarithms, rescaling of data and log-log and semilog plots
Introduction to matrices (Web page) ------(pdf file)
Introduction to Eigenectors and Eigenvalues (Web page) ------(pdf file) and two versions of the Matlab code for showing a landscape change with 3 vegetation types are succession.m which has an animation and succession2.m which steps through each time period
Longer Introduction to Eigenectors and Eigenvalues and Matlab code for Ecobeaker landscape succession example is marsucc.m
Chance, Determinism and Biology: Introduction (Web page) ------(pdf file)
Drug Testing Example of Bayes Theorem (pdf file)
Discrete-time models in biology (pdf file)

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)



Return to L. Gross Home Page