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I am looking for a math book. I have a small part of it in PDF (I forget where I got it from, perhaps a .edu webpage) and I'm considering buying the book. Unfortunately, the name and the author of the book are missing. Here are some features of the book:

It appears to be from before 2000. It uses MS Excel and has screenshots of Chart Wizard, ODE Editor (for solving differential equations), and Histogram Editor (for statistics). I have attached a screenshot.

enter image description here

Each chapter has an epigraph from the satirical American TV show, The Simpsons. Here is one:

Employee: I don't need your crummy job, Mr. Employer! I've won the lottery.
Employer: Well, who needs employees? I won the lottery, too!
All: [to camera] Why don't you win the lottery, too.
Announcer: The state lottery, where everybody wins!

A few chapter names: Calculus Review, Probability Theory I & II, Random Variables I & II, Probability and Genetics, Regression, Differential Equations, Population Models, Numerical Solution of Differential Equations, Qualitative Methods, Systems of Differential Equations, Statistical Inference: Estimation. Each chapter has many exercises.

I would like someone to help me find the name and author of the book!

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  • $\begingroup$ Perhaps "The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets"? $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 18, 2024 at 13:26
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    $\begingroup$ @NN2 that's from 2013; also I have a copy and can confirm that's not it based on the chapter titles. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 18, 2024 at 14:25

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Googling "ODE System Editor" "Figure 6.9" gives one hit, to https://math.sci.ccny.cuny.edu/document/Chap_6.pdf . This appears to be a chapter of the book in question (which is not Simpsons-themed). Editing the URL gives other chapters. Unfortunately the URL doesn't give us much hint about who the author is, beyond that they may be at City College of New York.

I was able to track down the introduction at https://math.sci.ccny.cuny.edu/document/intro-1.pdf which says it's by Edward Grossman, gives the date "May 2001", and describes it as being for biologists.

If you google "Edward Grossman" math you can find out that Grossman is an emeritus professor at CCNY, and also references to a book called Mathematical Methods for the Life Sciences from that year, which I suspect is the book you're looking for.

That said, it's from 2001 and uses Excel heavily - I would recommend finding something more modern, as there have been a lot of changes to Excel since 2001!

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    $\begingroup$ It seems all chapters can be viewed here: math.sci.ccny.cuny.edu/course/math-20900 $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 18, 2024 at 15:16
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    $\begingroup$ Thanks @MichaelLugo. I like the lucid language and the problems/exercises. For computations, I can use Mathematica, or even a programming language/env like R. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 18, 2024 at 16:09

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