"Given that a college-level life science student will take only one additional calculus course after learning the very basics of differentiation and integration, what material should such a course cover? This book answers that question. It is based on a very successful one-semester course taught at Harvard and aims to teach students in the life sciences how to use differential equations to facilitate their research. It requires only a semester's background in calculus. Notions from linear algebra and partial differential equations that are most useful to the life sciences are introduced as and when needed, and in the context of life science applications are drawn from real published papers. In addition, the course is designed to teach students how to recognize when differential equations can help focus research. A course taught with this book can replace a standard course in multivariable calculus that is typically taught to engineers and physicists."--Jacket.