Quantitative Methods for Biology (Harvard University)

This free 10-week limited-access course teaches novices how to code using the principles of MATLAB programming. It is also appropriate for experienced programmers, as it will teach you MATLAB fundamentals without being slowed down by introductory notions you are already familiar with. This course requires some familiarity of introductory algebra. Students enrolled in the course will receive a complimentary MATLAB Online license for the duration of the course.

The session will begin with an introduction to MATLAB programming. You'll discover when to use a computational approach to problem solving and how to write, read, and explain a line of MATLAB code. Following that, you'll learn about arrays, which are used to hold collections of linked data. You'll learn how to construct multidimensional arrays for storing and retrieving data. In fact, images are shown in rows of individual pixels. Image analysis using arrays, such as adjusting contrast or cropping photos, is widely utilized in medical and cellular biology.

Loops allow you to specify which operations should be repeated. You'll learn when and how to utilize loops (including nesting loops within loops), variable scoping, if statements to better regulate the flow of code, and how to break out of a loop. You'll then move on to functions and scripts, which will assist you in collecting your code for future reuse. You'll learn how to create your own functions and scripts that can be called from anywhere without having to rewrite them. Finally, the course discusses data analysis, which is the subject of dealing with and comprehending real-world data. You'll learn how to summarize data, visualize data with graphs and histograms, and deal with missing values, among other things.

This course lasts 10 weeks, with each week lasting 3-5 hours. You will learn via watching lecture videos, reading course material, engaging in the discussion forum, completing practice exercises, and finishing the final project. You will have access to the graded problems that will count towards your certificate if you pay for the course.

Fun Facts

• The course has 392 bookmarks on Class Central.
• Dr. Michael Springer is a professor at Harvard Medical School, where his lab studies how evolution shapes and constrains the way in which organisms respond to their environment.

Institution: Harvard University
Provider: edX
Instructor: Michael Springer
Level: Beginner
Workload: 30–50 hours total
Enrollments: 43K

Google rating: N/a

Certificate: Paid

Enroll here: edx.org/course/quantitative-methods-for-biology