Mathematical and theoretical biology is an
interdisciplinary scientific research field with a range of applications in
biology,
biotechnology, and
medicine. The field is also called
mathematical biology or
biomathematics to stress the mathematical side, or
theoretical biology to stress the biological side. Mathematical biology aims at the mathematical representation, treatment and modeling of
biological processes, using a variety of
applied mathematical techniques and tools. It has both theoretical and practical applications in biological, biomedical and biotechnology research. For example, in
cell biology,
protein interactions are often represented as "cartoon" models, which, although easy to visualize, do not accurately describe the systems studied. This requires precise mathematical models. Describing systems in a quantitative manner means their behavior can be better simulated, and hence properties can be predicted that might not be evident to the experimenter.