Page 19 - 20dynamics of cancer

4 CHAPTER 1

accounts for biological properties of variability, inheritance, and multi-
ple pathways of disease. I discuss the consequences of reliability and
failure rates for evolutionary aspects of organismal design. Cancer pro-
vides an ideal subject for the study of reliability and failure, and through
the quantitative study of failure curves, one gains much insight into
cancer progression and the ways in which to develop further studies of
cancer biology.

1.2 How to Read

Biological analysis coupled with mathematical development can pro-
duce great intellectual synergy. But for many readers, the mixed lan-
guage of a biology-math marriage can seem to be a private dialect un-
derstood by only a few intimates.
Perhaps this book would have been an easier read if I had published
the quantitative theory separately in journals, and only summarized the
main findings here in relation to specific biological problems. But the
real advance derives from the interdisciplinary synergism, diluted nei-
ther on the biological nor on the mathematical side. If fewer can im-
mediately grasp the whole, more should be attracted to try, and with
greater ultimate reward. Progress will ultimately depend on advances
in biology, on advances in the conceptual understanding of reliability
and failure, and on advances in the quantitative analysis and interpre-
tation of data.
I have designed this book to make the material accessible to readers
with different training and different goals. Chapters 2 and 3 provide
background on cancer that should be accessible to all readers. Chapter
4 presents a novel historical analysis of the quantitative study of age-
specific cancer incidence. Chapter 5 gives a gentle introduction to the
quantitative theory, why such theory is needed, and how to use it. That
mathematical introduction should be readable by all.
Chapters 6 and 7 develop the mathematical theory, with much original
work on the fundamental properties of reliability and failure in biologi-
cal systems. Each section in those two mathematical chapters includes a
nontechnical introduction and conclusion, along with figures that illus-
trate the main concepts. Those with allergy to mathematics can glance
briefly at the section introductions, and then move along quickly before