Mathematics, genetics and evolution

The importance of mathematics and statistics in genetics is well known. Perhaps less well known is the importance of these subjects in evolution. The main problem that Darwin saw in his theory of evolution by natural selection was solved by some simple mathematics. It is also not a coincidence that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inQuantitative biology Vol. 1; no. 1; pp. 9 - 31
Main Author Ewens, Warren J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Berlin/Heidelberg Higher Education Press 01.03.2013
Springer-Verlag
Subjects
Bioinformatics
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Computational Biology/Bioinformatics
Computer Appl. in Life Sciences
Life Sciences
Mathematical and Computational Biology
Review
Allelic Type
Natural Selection
Additive Genetic Variance
Allele Model
Random Mating
Online AccessGet full text
ISSN2095-4689
2095-4697
2095-4697
DOI10.1007/s40484-013-0003-5

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Summary:The importance of mathematics and statistics in genetics is well known. Perhaps less well known is the importance of these subjects in evolution. The main problem that Darwin saw in his theory of evolution by natural selection was solved by some simple mathematics. It is also not a coincidence that the re-writing of the Darwinian theory in Mendelian terms was carried largely by mathematical methods. In this article I discuss these historical matters and then consider more recent work showing how mathematical and statistical methods have been central to current genetical and evolutionary research.
Bibliography:Document received on :2012-10-08
Document accepted on :2012-11-06
ISSN:2095-4689
2095-4697
2095-4697
DOI:10.1007/s40484-013-0003-5