114: The Mathematics of Biology & COVID-19 | KIT YATES

Maths is an unloved subject. It’s a commonplace view that maths is hard, that maths is abstract and removed from everyday concerns. Why do you think that is?In today’s society, mathematics underpins almost everything we do. It is vital to the ways in which we communicate with each other and the methods we use to navigate from place to place. It has completely altered how we buy and sell and it has revolutionised the manner in which we work and relax. Its influence can be felt in almost every courtroom and every hospital ward, in every office and every home. Maths might even explain why time seems to speed up as we get older.Kit Yates is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mathematical Sciences and co-director of the Centre for Mathematical Biology at the University of Bath. He completed his PhD in mathematics at the University of Oxford in 2011. His research demonstrates that mathematics can be used to describe all sorts of real-world phenomena: from embryo formation to locust swarming and from sleeping sickness to egg-shell patterning. In this episodes we go through 7 mathematical principles of life: 1. Thinking Exponentially2. Sensitivity, Specificity, and Second Opinions3. The Laws of Mathematics4. Don’t Believe the Truth5.Wrong Place, Wrong Time6. Relentless Optimization Find Kit here: Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kit_Yates_MathsWebsite: https://t.co/XV6C9HybYE?amp=1