My cousin and his wife were blessed with a baby girl, the first-ever born in the family. Everyone including me was immensely happy and extraordinarily excited to meet the little one. Each one of us was enthusiastically discussing the plans they had for the little one while going.
We went to the third floor of the hospital, my cousin was waiting for us in the corridor. His happiness was all visible in his wide smile. We congratulated both of them on the birth of the little one. Shortly a small 10-year-old kid happened to enter the room and went running to the baby. A woman from the backside shrieked at him, “Aadi, go slow, don’t make noise and disturb others”. It was the sister of my cousin’s wife. While we were chitchatting the kid was into observing the baby curiously, I found it funny.
In a moment Aadi noticed something unalike and kept staring at the baby’s foot. Suddenly he shouted, “look mummy, the baby has six fingers on her foot, come here and see”. His mom just nodded and again got busy in the discussion.” Come mom look at her sixth finger, how did she get it? Why don’t I have six fingers?” he asked eagerly. After Aadi said, I went and saw that baby was born with a sixth finger on her foot.
I just looked at it and I also turned back to the discussion. For a moment I did not find it something exceptional or extraordinary. But the number SIX caught my attention. I found the question Aadi asked thought-provoking. Why does everyone have five fingers only? Why aren’t they four or six? I suddenly became curious about the numbers. None of us has the power or knows the way to determine how many fingers one can have to their feet and hands. Then who decides that for us?
While we are growing up we don’t notice how exactly we get our body features. It is really striking that without any control or monitoring, we get predetermined five fingers on our hands or feet. What strikes me the most is who ensures that? And the number does not change with the habitat or even with the genetics of a person. I figured out that the number five must have been an important number and remained unchanged as part of the human body during thousands of years of evolution. Every living individual has received all their features because of the certain necessities of the time. So there should be some biomath working behind the scenes while determining those features.
I really started wondering about everything around us that is so usual and perfect. It is more relevant when it comes to the biological world. When we observe carefully, it seems that numbers have been an important deciding factor of the physical features of every creature on earth. A defined number of teeth, defined number of eyes, ears, and other organs like the heart, lungs, etc. are a few of the features profoundly defined by certain numbers. But, is the significance of the numbers limited to the physical appearance of the body? I think No!
The doctor recommends the dose of the medicine to a hospitalized person by considering the weight of a person and concentration or amount of the active ingredient of the medicine being prescribed. The weight of the person is also a number so is the concentration of the active ingredient. That’s why sometimes physicians recommend a dose of medicine as once a day or sometimes two or three times a day. Incautious use of some numbers by a doctor can turn out to be a menace to the life of a patient.
Use of mathematics in medicine
Nowadays because of the increasing health concern, everyone is talking about sugars, an important part of our energy metabolism. A concentration of glucose in the blood which is ideally 5 mM is also just a number. But clinically it becomes a matter of concern if increased beyond that concentration. In diabetes, such increased glucose concentration can cause acidosis because of the inability to sense glucose levels or sometimes because of the insufficiently produced insulin. As a result, individuals suffering from diabetes have associated risk of serious complications like kidney failure; sometimes he or she might sink into a coma.
Use of mathematics in Genetics studies
“Are numbers in biological sciences more relevant these days because of the recent advancements in the scientific studies in the world?” I asked it to myself. The answer I got is NO. Way back in the mid-19th century, Gregor Mendel counted the number of peas with different morphological features like shape and seed coat color. By counting the number of phenotypically different seeds and by applying simple mathematics he could tell the world that heritable character is determined by two FACTORS. Had he not used numbers to measure the probability of the inheritance of the specific morphological character, probably he would not have been referred to as a Father of Genetics.
Multiple examples tell us how nature is some or the other way associated with math and science. Without any human intervention how certain fruits can form only one seed whereas, some fruits bear numerous seeds inside them. Moreover, when we break open the seeds we find that there are two; sometimes the only cotyledon present. It amazes me all the time how these natural blind machines can do such a surprising job on their own. In many such ways science math is in function and we are unaware of it.
While thinking all of that I realised how important is the mathematics in science and in shaping the biological world. When nature’s foundation is built with the mathematics; we will only be planning to fail if it is not a part of our academics.
read about How mathematics powers biology-2
Additional Reading:
1. Connecting Biology and Mathematics: First Prepare the Teachers
Andrej Šorgo
CBE Life Sci Educ. 2010 Fall; 9(3): 196–200. doi: 10.1187/cbe.10-03-0014