Fenwick Scholar Program

Date of Award

5-26-1995

Degree Type

Restricted Access Thesis

Department

Mathematics

First Advisor

David B. Damiano

Second Advisor

Margaret N. Freije

Abstract

The existing research articles in the area of the topology of DNA fall into two basic categories - those that assume a substantial background in biology and are not mathematically rigorous, and those that assume a strong background in mathematics and are vague about the biology. This paper is intended to be one source that combines both the mathematical and biological perspectives on this topic, attempting to give careful explanations of the necessary material in both subject areas while remaining accessible to undergraduate students with an interest, but not necessarily a strong background in biochemistry and mathematics. The existing articles also cover a variety of subtopics, but no source exists that contains all of these areas of interest in one article; therefore, this paper attempts to synthesize as many of the subtopics as .possible. the paper Therefore, the paper gives intuitive and rigorous explanations of all concepts beyond basic chemistry, cell biology, and vector calculus.

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