{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T15:50:44Z","timestamp":1792165844807,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":11,"publisher":"American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)","issue":"5659","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Science"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2004,2,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>In the physical sciences, mathematical theory and experimental investigation have always marched together. Mathematics has been less intrusive in the life sciences, possibly because they have until recently been largely descriptive, lacking the invariance principles and fundamental natural constants of physics. Increasingly in recent decades, however, mathematics has become pervasive in biology, taking many different forms: statistics in experimental design; pattern seeking in bioinformatics; models in evolution, ecology, and epidemiology; and much else. I offer an opinionated overview of such uses\u2014and abuses.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1094442","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2004,2,5]],"date-time":"2004-02-05T21:58:16Z","timestamp":1076018296000},"page":"790-793","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":347,"title":["Uses and Abuses of Mathematics in Biology"],"prefix":"10.1126","volume":"303","author":[{"given":"Robert M.","family":"May","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Zoology Department, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"221","reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_1_2_2","unstructured":"R. A. Fisher The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection (Dover [reprint] New York 1958)."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_3_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.28.706.49"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_4_2","unstructured":"For a more full discussion see R. M. Anderson and R. M. May [Infectious Diseases of Humans (Oxford Univ. Press 1991) chap. 11]."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_5_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/sim.4780080111"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_6_2","unstructured":"R. MacArthur Geographical Ecology (Harper & Row New York 1972)."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_7_2","first-page":"212","year":"2002","unstructured":"For further discussion, see G. Farmelo (Ed.) [It Must be Beautiful: Great Equations of Modern Science (Granta, London, 2002), pp. 212\u2013229] and (7).","journal-title":"It Must be Beautiful: Great Equations of Modern Science"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_8_2","unstructured":"J. Gleick Chaos: Making a New Science (Viking New York 1987)."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_9_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"M. A. Nowak R. M. May Virus Dynamics: Mathematical Principles of Immunology and Virology (Oxford Univ. Press Oxford 2000).","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780198504184.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_10_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.284.5411.87"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_11_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/nature01343"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_12_2","unstructured":"I thank many colleagues particularly S. Levin A. Grafen D. Rubenstein and M. Stumpf for helpful conversations and the Leverhulme Trust and the Nuffield Foundation for their support."}],"container-title":["Science"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1126\/science.1094442","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,10]],"date-time":"2024-01-10T03:06:57Z","timestamp":1704856017000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.1094442"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2004,2,6]]},"references-count":11,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5659","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2004,2,6]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1126\/science.1094442"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/science.1094442","relation":{},"ISSN":["0036-8075","1095-9203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0036-8075","type":"print"},{"value":"1095-9203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2004,2,6]]}}}