Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- How important is maths in data-handling?
- Abbreviations and the Système International
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Numbers and indices
- 2 A sense of proportion
- 3 Graphs
- 4 Algebra
- 5 Logarithms: exponential and logarithmic functions
- 6 Simple statistics
- 7 Preparing solutions and media
- 8 Enzymes
- 9 Spectrophotometry
- 10 Energy metabolism
- 11 Radioactivity
- 12 Growth in batch cultures
- 13 Growth in continuous culture
- 14 Microbial genetics
- 15 Problems
- 16 Advice and hints
- 17 Answers to problems
- Conclusion
- Further reading
- Index
Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- How important is maths in data-handling?
- Abbreviations and the Système International
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Numbers and indices
- 2 A sense of proportion
- 3 Graphs
- 4 Algebra
- 5 Logarithms: exponential and logarithmic functions
- 6 Simple statistics
- 7 Preparing solutions and media
- 8 Enzymes
- 9 Spectrophotometry
- 10 Energy metabolism
- 11 Radioactivity
- 12 Growth in batch cultures
- 13 Growth in continuous culture
- 14 Microbial genetics
- 15 Problems
- 16 Advice and hints
- 17 Answers to problems
- Conclusion
- Further reading
- Index
Summary
As a teacher of some experience, the writer is well aware of the great value to be attached to the solution of numerical problems as an aid to the understanding of the principles of physical chemistry.
Samuel GlasstoneWhat's the point of working through these diabolical questions? What's the point of making up these questions? Are they just ‘a madman's fly trap’, as the plots of a mystery writer (John Dickson Carr) that I much enjoy have been described? Obviously, I think there are good points, otherwise I wouldn't be writing this book, and would not be keeping myself sequestered nor neglecting important household tasks.
The first point is that to become a scientist one does need to develop awareness of the ways in which experimental data are turned into conclusions. How was Avogadro's number evaluated? How did Millikan (of the oil-drop experiment) determine the size of the charge on an electron? These were things I had to write about as an undergraduate, and I had to do the calculations too. Neither then nor now did I see the great relevance of this to biochemistry, but I did begin to see how hard-won are scientific ‘facts’, and I certainly realised then that I could manage handling the numbers, and using such horrors as five-figure logarithmic tables, long before the arrival of calculators.
This leads to the next point – doing problems helps to improve one's mathematical skill, and gives the confidence to believe that one has such skill.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Data-Handling in Biomedical Science , pp. 233 - 235Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010