Question: How do you link diseases too computers and maths?

Liz Buckingham-Jeffery answered on 13 Jun 2017:

Hi! Thanks for your question, it is a good one.

I link diseases to computers and maths by making mathematical models. Mathematical models are equations that show similar behaviour to real life, but are usually a lot more simple compared to real life. So a mathematical model of a disease in a population might include people and the people will interact with each other (this is how the disease spreads). But it could be more simple than real life because I will make all the people in my model interact with everyone the same amount (we know this isn’t true in real life, you spend more time with your family than other people). But these simplifications make the maths equation of the model easier to solve.

We get the computer to solve these equations, because the computer can do this very quickly and lots and lots of times without getting bored! And when the equations are solved the results we get are things like: how many people in the model population got infected.

This is useful because then I can add a vaccine to my model. And see then how this changes the number of people that got infected. And if I don’t have enough money (in real life) to give a vaccine to everyone, I can use my model to see what would happen if I vaccinated different groups of people. Then I can use the results to pick (in real life) who it is best to give the vaccine to.

If you are interested in finding out more, this article explains what I, and other scientists like me, do. But it is a little complicated so don’t worry if you don’t understand all of it!
https://theconversation.com/how-maths-can-help-us-fight-infectious-diseases-44848

And this page tries to explain more about what a mathematical model is in general, because it is a bit of a tricky thing to explain: https://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/mathematical-models.html

If you want to know more, just ask!