Hill equation was published in 1909-1910 !" "#$#%& = ! ( ) + ! ( • [P]: concentration of protein • [L]: concentration of binding molecule (ligand) • K: binding constant • n: Hill coefficient 2
) + ! ( Hill originally wrote: “I decided to try whether the equation would satisfy the observations. My object was rather to see whether an equation of this type can satisfy all the observations, than to base any direct physical meaning on n and K.” 3 Hill AV, J Physiol 1910 AV Hill (UK) 1886 –1977
is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent upon each other in so complex a manner…” -- Charles Darwin "On the Origin of Species" 14
Equations cannot be solved, or • Solutions cannot be interpreted • Need to simplify and approximate • while preserving the essential features of the system 17
• Focus on parameters relevant to narrow problem • Make lots of accurate measurements (nice big data!!) • Solve numerically (lots of computing, no interpretation) • Provide precise testable predictions to specific scenario Examples: • Computer vision • Modelling fish populations in Canada 21
in hopes that • unrealistic assumptions cancel each other • small deviations from realism → small deviations in results • departures from model results will suggest further research Examples: • Predator-prey models (Lotka-Volterra) • Frictionless systems • Perfect gases 22
(Approach favored by Levins) • Concerned with qualitative rather then quantitative results • Very general assumptions (x>y, f(x) increasing in x) • Prediction are also general and imprecise (f(x) > f(y)) • However, doubt if results depend on essentials or details. • Build models with different simplifications: “truth is the intersection of lies” Example: Geographical maps • relative distances correspond to relative distances in reality • color is arbitrary • microscopic view will show the fibers of the paper… 23
n arose from the math: !" "#$#%& = ! ( ) + ! ( • Hill originally wrote: “ I decided to try whether the equation would satisfy the observations. My object was rather to see whether an equation of this type can satisfy all the observations, than to base any direct physical meaning on n and K.” 28 Hill AV, J Physiol 1910
How many different trees in Carmel vs. Jerusalem? • If Carmel has 50:50 Oren and Alon, and Jerusalem has 80:20, which is more diverse? 29 Jost L, Oikos 2006
index should: • go from 0 to infinity species • community with D equally-common species has diversity D Examples: • Species richness: ∑ "#$ % &" ' = ∑ "#$ % 1*+,' • Shannon entropy: exp − ∑ "#$ % &" log &" • Diversity of order q: ∑ "#$ % & " 4 = 5 567 30 Jost L, Oikos 2006
(disregard environmental change) 2. Vague functional forms (f(x) increasing in x) 3. Sufficient parameters hide information (exactly how many species? why is red fitter than green?) 31
few components Theories are • Clusters of related models… • that jointly produce robust theorems… • complement to cope with different aspects… • nested to interpret sufficient parameters of next level 33
complex heterogenous nature vs. • mind constrained to few simple factors • need to understand vs. control • aesthetics of simple general theorems vs. • richness and diversity of nature 34 Generality Realism Precision
(1966) The strategy of model building in population biology. Am Sci 54(3):421–431. • Plutynski A (2007) Strategies of Model Building in Population Genetics. Philos Sci 73(5):755–764. • Gunawardena J (2013) Biology is more theoretical than physics. Mol Biol Cell 24(12):1827–1829. 35