Biology

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bioNRICH

bioNRICH is the area of the stemNRICH site devoted to the mathematics underlying the study of the biological sciences, designed to help develop the mathematics required to get the most from your study of biology at A-level and university.

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Mathematical issues for biologists

STEM students at university often encounter mathematical difficulties. This articles highlights the 8 key problems for biologists.

$Advanced \STEM$

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Advanced STEM

This collection of resources is designed for developing STEM at Post-16.

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Core Scientific Mathematics

This is the area of the advanced stemNRICH site devoted to the core applied mathematics underlying the sciences.

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chemNRICH

chemNRICH is the area of the stemNRICH site devoted to the mathematics underlying the study of chemistry, designed to help develop the mathematics required to get the most from your study of chemistry at A-level and university.

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stemNRICH

Old version of STEM site.

problem

Favourite

Discuss and Choose

Age

5 to 11

Challenge level

This activity challenges you to decide on the 'best' number to use in each statement. You may need to do some estimating, some calculating and some research.

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Bird Watch

Do you know which birds are regular visitors where you live?

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Big and small numbers in the living world

Age

11 to 16

Challenge level

Work with numbers big and small to estimate and calculate various quantities in biological contexts.

project

Terrariums

Build a mini eco-system, and collect and interpret data on how well the plants grow under different conditions.

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Maths is everywhere!

Age

11 to 16

Challenge level

Maths is everywhere in the world! Take a look at these images. What mathematics can you see?

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Food Web

Age

11 to 14

Challenge level

Is this eco-system sustainable?

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Food Chains

Age

11 to 14

Challenge level

When a habitat changes, what happens to the food chain?

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Bigger or smaller?

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

When you change the units, do the numbers get bigger or smaller?

problem

Alternative Record Book

Age

14 to 18

Challenge level

In which Olympic event does a human travel fastest? Decide which events to include in your Alternative Record Book.

problem

bio graphs

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

What biological growth processes can you fit to these graphs?

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Time to evolve

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

How many generations would link an evolutionist to a very distant ancestor?

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Natural shapes

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

How does shape relate to function in the natural world?

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Biology measurement challenge

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

Analyse these beautiful biological images and attempt to rank them in size order.

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Genetics

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

A problem about genetics and the transmission of disease.

problem

Packing 3D shapes

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

What 3D shapes occur in nature. How efficiently can you pack these shapes together?

problem

Favourite

Ratios and Dilutions

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

Scientists often require solutions which are diluted to a particular concentration. In this problem, you can explore the mathematics of simple dilutions

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Dilution series calculator

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

Which dilutions can you make using 10ml pipettes and 100ml measuring cylinders?

problem

Robot Camera

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

Could nanotechnology be used to see if an artery is blocked? Or is this just science fiction?

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Exact dilutions

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

Which exact dilution ratios can you make using only 2 dilutions?

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Peas in a pod

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

What is the chance this pea plant will look like its parents?

$Disease Dynamics - \understanding \the \spread \of \diseases$

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Disease Dynamics - understanding the spread of diseases

Age

14 to 16

A chance to explore the mathematics of networks as applied to epidemics and the spread of disease.

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Big and small numbers in biology

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

Work with numbers big and small to estimate and calulate various quantities in biological contexts.

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The genes of Gilgamesh

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

Can you work out the parentage of the ancient hero Gilgamesh?

problem

Mixed up mixture

Age

14 to 16

Challenge level

Can you fill in the mixed up numbers in this dilution calculation?

problem

Favourite

Chi-squared faker

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

How would you massage the data in this Chi-squared test to both accept and reject the hypothesis?

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Population Dynamics - part 5

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

Fifth in our series of problems on population dynamics for advanced students.

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Catalyse that!

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

Can you work out how to produce the right amount of chemical in a temperature-dependent reaction?

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Reaction types

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

Explore the rates of growth of the sorts of simple polynomials often used in mathematical modelling.

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Drug stabiliser

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

How does the half-life of a drug affect the build up of medication in the body over time?

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Population Ecology using Probability

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

An advanced mathematical exploration supporting our series of articles on population dynamics for advanced students.

problem

Favourite

Stats statements

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

Are these statistical statements sometimes, always or never true? Or it is impossible to say?

problem

Whose line graph is it anyway?

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

Which line graph, equations and physical processes go together?

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Neural nets

Find out some of the mathematics behind neural networks.

problem

Predator - prey systems

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

See how differential equations might be used to make a realistic model of a system containing predators and their prey.

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Bird-Brained

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

How many eggs should a bird lay to maximise the number of chicks that will hatch? An introduction to optimisation.

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Genetic Intrigue

Dip your toe into the fascinating topic of genetics. From Mendel's theories to some cutting edge experimental techniques, this article gives an insight into some of the processes underlying a fundamental biological discipline.

problem

Why multiply when you're about to divide?

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

A brief introduction to PCR and restriction mapping, with relevant calculations...

problem

Graphic biology

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

Several graphs of the sort occurring commonly in biology are given. How many processes can you map to each graph?

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Fitting flat shapes

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

How efficiently can various flat shapes be fitted together?

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Is your DNA unique?

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

Use combinatoric probabilities to work out the probability that you are genetically unique!

problem

Favourite

Real-life equations

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

Here are several equations from real life. Can you work out which measurements are possible from each equation?

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Population Dynamics - part 3

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

Third in our series of problems on population dynamics for advanced students.

problem

Favourite

Blood buffers

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

Investigate the mathematics behind blood buffers and derive the form of a titration curve.

problem

Population Dynamics - part 2

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

Second in our series of problems on population dynamics for advanced students.

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Population Dynamics Collection

Age

16 to 18

Challenge level

This is our collection of tasks on the mathematical theme of 'Population Dynamics' for advanced students and those interested in mathematical modelling.

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