Friday, January 24, 2014

Why Applied Mathematicians Make the Best Brownies

Melissa,

So this semester I am taking a mathematical biology class. (Yes, I can hear the people shuddering in the distance) But I really like it! It's basically an overview of how math is being used to model things in biology. We started with just a basic model for population and will get into more complicated things as the semester goes on. Some things are really cool, some things are a little ridiculous. The other day we talked about how to model love affairs and a couple's feelings for each other based on how strongly they keep their own feelings and how they react to the other's. There was some really interesting outcomes just based on the parameters you picked! The math behind it is really interesting.

Anyway, the reason this deserves it's own blog post is that it's made me realize something. I really like modelling things from real life. I like seeing the math behind how nature works and being able to predict the future from finding patterns. So while I still don't know what field I want to study or what career I want, I now have a clue about where to go, and that's exciting!

- Jessica

P.S. The title came from an actual scientific article I was looking at for class. They were modelling how heat is distributed in the oven to determine the best shaped pan to use for brownies. It reminded me of you! Round pans distribute the heat most evenly, but it wastes room in the oven. They decided on rectangular pans with rounded corners.

P.P.S. Here's a song that I heard three days ago and it has been in my head ever since. I like it, it just needs to get out of my head. It's "The Walker" by Fits and the Tantrums