This book offers an accessible introduction to random walk and diffusion models at a level consistent with the typical background of students in the life sciences. In recent decades these models have become widely used in areas far beyond their traditional origins in physics, for example, in studies of animal behavior, ecology, sociology, sports science, population genetics, public health applications, and human decision making. Developing the main formal concepts, the book provides detailed and intuitive step-by-step explanations, and moves smoothly from simple to more complex models. Finally, in the last chapter, some successful and original applications of random walk and diffusion models in the life and behavioral sciences are illustrated in detail. The treatment of basic techniques and models is consolidated and extended throughout by a set of carefully chosen exercises.

This book is based on the view that cognitive skills are best acquired by solving challenging, non-standard probability problems.

Many puzzles and problems presented here are either new within a problem solving context (although as topics in fundamental research they are long known) or are variations of classical problems which follow directly from elementary concepts. A small number of particularly instructive problems is taken from previous sources which in this case are generally given. This book will be a handy resource for professors looking for problems to assign, for undergraduate math students, and for a more general audience of amateur scientists.

This book is based on the view that cognitive skills are best acquired by solving challenging, non-standard probability problems.

Many puzzles and problems presented here are either new within a problem solving context (although as topics in fundamental research they are long known) or are variations of classical problems which follow directly from elementary concepts. A small number of particularly instructive problems is taken from previous sources which in this case are generally given. This book will be a handy resource for professors looking for problems to assign, for undergraduate math students, and for a more general audience of amateur scientists.