Information science approach to biomathematics and its implications to ecology and quantitative epidemiology

Extract

The paper consists of three parts A, B and C. In part A, “A contribution to the methodology of biomathematics”, general considerations on mathematical analysis and automaton theory are given in order to show how and why new approaches for biomathematics are required from the standpoint of information science. In fact three requirements are mentioned: (1°) general system approach; (2°) historical approach; (3°) three indispensable constituent fields of biological science. Regarding (1°), the author refers to his work on the logic of information science explained in 1968 at the CAS Seminar in Dubrovnik and published in 1969 in a Japanese monograph. Regarding (2°), reference is made to his paper “A contribution to the methodology of futurology” published in International Conference on Futurology, April 1970, Kyoto. The three indispensable constitutent fields are given by (a) theoretical, (b) experimental and (c) engineering biologies. In view of these three requirements, characteristic features of biomathematics in connection with an information science approach are (1°) discrete, (2°) combinatorial, (3°) dynamical, (4°) evolutionary, and (5°) design mathematics.