Modèles et méthodes mathématiques pour les sciences du vivant

Citation

Hutton, D.M. (1998), "Modèles et méthodes mathématiques pour les sciences du vivant", Kybernetes, Vol. 27 No. 5, pp. 585-586. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.1998.27.5.585.4

This is an important book which is written in French by a well‐known scientist and a frequent contributor to Kybernetes. Its prefaces (one in English) are self‐explanatory and provide an excellent appetiser for the introduction and ten chapters that follow. A conclusion, annexe, and reference list are also included.

Professor Yves Cherruault and the fellow researchers of MÉDIMAT Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris VI, France, are renowned for their work in the fields of mathematical modelling and mathematical methods pertaining to the life sciences. The mathematical methods they have used and developed together with the innovative and original methods they have presented to the scientific communities are now well known and appreciated.

The detail of many methods highlighted in this book, such as the Adomian method; the Alienor method, and other important developments have already been acclaimed worldwide. These have been introduced as a result of intensive study at the laboratory of Professor Cherruault and his co‐workers at MÉDIMAT and have been applied to many different processes including those involved with identification and optimal control. Although these methods have been published in the scientific literature as outstanding contributions to the field, it is pleasing to see this research work collected together and collated as a book. Consequently it will be of particular value to those scientists and mathematicians, and indeed many other potential readers, who will now have the opportunity to appreciate the extent of these studies. They will also see the possibility for a wide range of applications, not only in the life sciences but in many other areas.

The chapter content ensures that the reader has a sound introduction to the models and methods that are presented. Problems and exercises are included and the explanations are clear and enthusiastically given. The mathematics is succinct and liberally interspersed with remarks to help understanding. In particular, the problems set in the Annexe together with the exercises given are of a tutorial nature in concept and provide readers with a searching test of their understanding.

While the title and the contents page might suggest it is a text for specialists in the fields it introduces and in particular, of interest only to those with a mathematical background, it is also a book to be studies by anyone with a general interest in the life sciences. The models and methods presented and discussed give us an insight into these research strategies and the opportunities they present for creating and analysing new and exciting systems.

This new book is, in consequence, thoroughly recommended for workers in this area of endeavour, for students with both tutorial and research interests and to those who want a mathematical insight into the life sciences.