Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook

 10% of the marks in your Biology exams will require the use of mathematical skills
 The following tables indicate where these mathematical skills could be assessed.
Those shown in bold will only be tested in the full A Level course. These skills
could be assessed in other areas of specification content but these are a guide as
to where you may have encountered these skills before in a Biological context.
Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook

Equations you need to learn:

Density Density= Mass/Volume

Hardy Weinberg Equation p+q=1 p = frequency of dominant

allele
p2 + 2pq + q2 = 1 q = frequency of recessive
allele
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook

Equations you need to be able to use but do not have to learn.

NB. You will not be expected to calculate a statistical test in your
examinations.
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
Indices:
Indices are a shorthand for multiplying a term by itself any number of times.
They are also called powers or exponents. You may look at this when
comparing volumes of liquid, rates of reaction, or converting units. e.g. This
allows us to express 2 ×2 ×2 ×2=2
4

m n m +n
1. Addition: for any term a: a × a =a
( 3 ×3 ×3 ) × ( 3× 3 ×3 ×3 )=33 × 34
7 3 4
3 =3 × 3
3 +4 3 4
3 =3 × 3
m
a m−n
2. Subtraction: for any term a : n
=a
a
2× 2× 2× 2× 2 5 2
=2 ÷ 2
2× 2
2× 2× 2× 2× 2 3
=2
2× 2
5 2 5−2 3
2 ÷2 =2 =2
3. Multiplication: for any term a: ¿¿
( y × y )×( y × y )×( y × y) ×( y × y ) ×( y × y )
2 2 2 2 2
¿y ×y ×y ×y ×y
¿¿¿
However, from the original line, we can see this is equal to y 10 so ( y ¿¿ 2)5= y 10 ¿
1
4. Division: for any term a: a n =√n a
1 1
From the first rule, we know that a 2 × a 2 =a1 . We also know that √ a × √a=a
1 1
Therefore, a 2 = a. There is a similar argument to show that a 3 = 3 a.
√ √

Axioms: There are three more rules of indices which are important to remember and come
directly from the definition of indices.
1
a =a Example: 21=2
0
a =1 Example: 8 0=1

−n 1 −3 1 1
a = Example: 2 = =
2 8
n 3
a
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
It is important to note that a common misconception is that there is a law for a m+ an . In general,
there is no way to simplify this expression.

Example Qs on indices:
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook

Standard Form:
Decimal Standard
We use standard form to easily manage very large or very small numbers.
Form
For example, the number 0.00000000000087 may be written as 8.7 × 10-
13
134 000 1.34 × 105
In this form, 8.7 × 10-13 is the product of two numbers: 8.7 is the digit
number, and 10-13 is the exponential number. 0.0034 3.4 × 10–3

A number is in standard form when it is written as a × 10n, where 1 ≤ a < 82 000 000 8.2 × 107
10

In standard form, the power of 10 shows the number of places the decimal 270 2.7 × 102
point must be shifted to give the number in decimal form. A positive
power will shift to the right, and a negative power will shift to the left. 0.000 000 000 2.6 × 10–11
026
In standard form, the digit number also contains
the number of significant figures in the number.
The exponential number positions the decimal To type a number in standard
point. form on your calculator,
- Input the digit number
To convert to standard form, shift the decimal until there is one non-zero
followed by the multiplication
digit left of the decimal point, and count the
sign.
number of places the decimal point has “moved”
- Locate the “10x” symbol, and
(this will be negative if your initial number was less
use this to insert the exponent.
than one). This number is the power of 10.
- Check your equation for any
Example Q 1: 0.0125 moles of a particular substance were dissolved in needed brackets.
2.5 dm3 of water. What is the concentration of this substance? Give your To check, multiply 6.1 × 104
answer in standard form. and 2 × 103. The answer should

Example Q 2: A cross section of an artery contains 9.2 × 10-9 m3 of blood. If this blood weighs 7.1 × 10-3
g, calculate the density of the blood. Leave your answer in standard form.
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook

Rounding and Significant Figures

There are some simple rules to use when working out significant figures.

Rule 1: All non-zero digits are significant.

For example, 78 has 2 significant figures, 9.543 has four significant figures and 340 has two significant
figures.
Rule 2: Intermediate zeros are significant.
For example, 706 has 3 significant figures, and 5.90076 has six significant figures.
Rule 3: Any leading zeroes are not significant.
For example, 0.00567 has 3 significant figures (5, 6 and 7; ignore the leading zeroes).
Rule 4: Zeroes at the ends of numbers containing decimal places are significant.
For example, 45.60 has 4 significant figures and 330.00 has 5 significant figures.

Significant Figures and Rounding:

In rounding, when the next number is 5 or more round up, while if it is 4 or less don’t round up.

Measurement Number of Measurements Number of Measured to the

expressed by decimal places expressed by significant nearest
rounding to rounding to figures
decimal places significant
figures
23.33600 5 23.336 5 100 thousandth
23.3360 4 23.34 4 Ten thousandth
23.336 3 23.3 3 Thousandth
23.34 2 23 2 Hundredth
23.3 1 20 1 Tenth
23 0 - - Whole number

If you aren’t sure how to round your answer, you can work out the number of significant
figures that you should round to by looking at the measurements you’re using in the
calculation. Just count the number of significant figures for each measurement and use the
lowest number of significant figures for your answer.
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
E.g. 1.2 ÷ 1.85 = 0.648648648 1.2 has 2 sf, 1.85 has 3 sf. So round your answer to 2 sf = 0.65

Significant figures and standard form:

In standard form only the significant figures are written as digits, for example 5.600 x 10 3 has four
significant figures. If this were written as a straight number it would be 5600. This looks like it has only two
significant figures but the significant figures are defined as the ones that contribute to its precision.
Writing the number as 5600 implies precision only to the nearest whole hundred (could be 5600.44 or
5633). Using standard form allows precision to remain clearly as part of the stated number because all
significant figures are written.

Example Qs:

1. The growth rate of a plant is 0.023735 cm hour-1. What is the rate to: a) 3 decimal places? b) 3
significant figures?

2. A student is calculating the average growth rate of a tray of seedlings by dividing the average
change in seedling height by the incubation time. The average change in seedling height is 17.5cm
and the incubation time is 60 days. What is the average growth rate (in cm day -1)? Give your
answer to an appropriate number of significant figures.

Units and prefixes:

One of the reasons we use the international system of units is because it makes the
conversion of units (especially those with different prefixes) mathematically simple.
We use prefixes as shorthand for standard form when using commonly occurring very
large or very small numbers. For example, the length 0.0000000023 m may be written
as 2.3 × 10–9 m
2.3 is the digit number and is kept. 10–9 is known as the exponential number and can
be replaced with the prefix ‘n’ pronounced as ‘nano’. Hence:
0.0000000023 m = 2.3 × 10 m = 2.3 nm
–9

Standard Units (SI Units)

You should always clearly write units in your calculations:
Base Units:
 Metre (m) for length, height distance
 Kilogram (kg) for mass
 Second (s) for time
 Mole (mol) for the amount of a substance
Derived Units:
 Square metres (m2) for area
 Cubic metre (m3) for volume
 Cubic centimetre (cm3) or ml for volume
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
 Degrees Celcius (℃) for temperature
 Mole per litre (mol dm-3) for concentration
 Joule (J) for energy
 Pascal (Pa) for pressure
 Volt (V) for electrical potential
You may also encounter these non-SI units:
 Litre (cubic decimetre) (L, dm3) for volume
 Minute (min) for time
 Hour (h) for time
 Svedberg (S) (for sedimentation rate), used for ribosome particle size

To accommodate the huge range of dimensions in our measurements, units may be

further modified using appropriate prefixes. Here is a table to show the range of
dimensions in our measurements. In Biology we tend to use the shaded rows the most.
Division Factor or Prefi Length unit Mass unit Volume unit Time unit
exponent x s s s s
ial
number
One 109 giga
billion
times
One 106 meg
million a
times
One 103 kilo kilometre km kilogram kg
thousand
times
Whole 10 metre m gram g litre L or second S
unit dm3
Tenth 10-1 deci
One 10-2 cent centimetr cm
hundredt i e
h
One 10-3 milli millimetr mm milligra mg millilitr ml millisecon ms
thousand e m e or d
th cm3
One 10-6 micr micromet µm microgra µg microlit µl microseco µs
millionth o re m re nd
One 10-9 nan nanometr nm nanogra ng nanolitr nl nanoseco ns
thousand o e m e nd
millionth
or one
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
billionth

Example 1
The length of a DNA nucleotide is 0.6 nm.
a) Convert this number into standard form.
b) If a strand of DNA is 1.6 m long, how many nucleotides is it made up of?

Converting between units:

If you are converting a smaller unit to a larger one you divide. If you are converting a larger unit
to a smaller one you multiply.
Divide by 1000 for each step to convert in this direction
nano micro milli Whole unit Kilo
e.g. nm e.g. µm e.g. mm e.g. m e.g. km
Multiply by 1000 for each step to convert in this direction

Example Qs:
1. Convert 1m to mm
2. Convert 1m to µm
3. Convert 20,000 µm to mm:

Converting between square or cube units:

One m2 = 1000 x 1000 = 1 000 000mm2 so your conversion factor becomes x or ÷ by 1 000 000.
One m3 = 1000 x 1000 x 1000 = 1 000 000 000 mm3 so your conversion factor now becomes x
or ÷ by 1 000 000 000.

Example Qs:
1. Convert 20m2 to km2:
2. Convert 1m2 to mm2:
3. Convert 5 000 000 mm3 to m3:
4. Convert 0.000 000 07 m3 to mm3:

Manipulating Units:
• A number and a unit (like 3 m) is a magnitude (3) multiplied by a unit (metre).
• The rules of algebra apply not only to the numbers you are manipulating, but also to the units
attached to them. For example:
3 m × 3 m = 3 × 3 × m × m = 9 × m × m = 9 × m 2 = 9 m2
• Units can be multiplied and divided just like regular number. For example:
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
3 3
6m m m ×m× m m ×m ×m
2
=3 2
=3 =3 =3 m
2m m m× m m ×m
• At A-level, rather than write m/s to mean metres per second, we will write ms –1.
• This makes it easier to combine units via the following rules (remember the indices section!)
a
unit a−b
a b
unit ×unit =unit
a+b
b
=unit
unit
1 1 n
• Nb This means that: −1
=kg or more generally −n =a
kg a

Example Qs:
3
36 cm
• a) Calculate the following: 2
12 cm

−3
36 kg cm
• b) Calculate the following: −2
64 cm

Ratios
Understanding ratio allows us to easily compare separate quantities. We can then examine patterns,
comment on the relationship, or use ratios to help us solve equations.
For example:
- Use 3 parts red paint to 1 part white paint.
- Use 1 teabag to 250 ml of water.
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
The order of the ratio is very important. We can use ratios to scale measurements, drawings, and
calculations up and down.
We can write a ratio as a fraction by scaling the ratio so that it is divided by the total number of parts.
Example: To make mortar, we need 1 part cement, and 2 parts sand. The total number of parts for one
batch of mortar is 1+2=3 . Thus the ratio for creating mortar is 1:2 which can also now be expressed as
1 2
:
3 3
2 1
From this form, it is easy to see how much of the total mixture is sand ( ¿ and how much is concrete ( ).
3 3
Example Qs:
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook

Plotting 2 Variable Equations

Plotting equations gives us a sense of what a relationship looks like. We can then easily see properties of
the equation as well as compare it to other equations.
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
To draw a representation of an equation, we first need coordinates to plot. We can achieve this by
creating a table of values. These are just the x and y values that are true for the given line.
To create a table of values, choose a set of x values, and substitute them into the equation and evaluate
to get the y values.
For example for the equation: y=−2 x +2 see the table of values to the right.
Once you have completing your table of values, draw neatly and label a pair of axis.
Once you have done this, plot the coordinates present in your table of values onto the graph. If they form
a straight line, use a ruler to connect the coordinates. Otherwise, draw a curve freehand.

Averages
Mean
• The mean is the total of the numbers divided by how many numbers there are.
• To work out the mean:
• Add up all the numbers. 7 + 9 + 11 + 6 + 13 + 6 + 6 + 3 + 11 = 72
• Divide the answer by how many numbers there are. There are 9 numbers. 72 ÷ 9 = 8 So the
mean value is 8.
Median is the middle value.
• To work out the median:
• Put the numbers in order: 3 6 6 6 7 9 11 11 13
• The number in the middle of the list is the median. So the median value is 7.
• If there are two middle values, the median is halfway between them. Work out the median for this
set of numbers:
• 3 6 6 6 7 8 9 11 11 13. There are two middle values, 7 and 8. The median is halfway between 7
and 8, so the median is 7.5.
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
Mode
• The mode is the value that appears the most.
• To work out the mode:
• Put the numbers in order: 3 6 6 6 7 9 11 11 13
• Look for the number that appears the most. 6 appears more than any other number. So the mode
value is 6.

Percentages
• A percentage is simply expressing a fraction as a decimal.
• Percentage as proportion and fraction: e.g. percentage of pin eyed plants is 323/790 = 0.41 x 100
= 41%
• Percentage as chance e.g. in genetics – ¼ x 100 = 25% of cystic fibrosis child from two parents.

• Percentage change. E.g. in osmosis experiments. A sample weighed 18.50g at the start and at the
end it weighed 11.72g.
• Percentage change = mass change ÷ starting mass x 100 =
• Mass change 18.50-11.72 = 6.78g ÷ 18.50 x 100 = -36.7% (Remember it is negative because it
was a loss in mass).

Substituting into equations

• There are several equations that you will need to be able to use in A
Level Biology.
Plant Number at n(n-1)
• E.g. Simpson’s Index of Biodiversity species site 1 (n)

• N means the total number of all A 84

individual organisms in a survey B 2

• n means the total number of each different species. C 6

• Σ = total of D 8

TOTALS N
• Brackets indicate sub-calculations must be done.
N(N-1)

Rearranging equations
 The individual parts of terms in equations are all related, but sometimes you might
know all the values of the terms except one.
 The equation can be re-written so that the unknown term can be calculated –
changing the subject of an equation.
 E.g. magnification = size of image ÷ size of real object
 Can be rearranged to: Size of image = magnification x real size and Real size =
image size ÷ magnification

Using Log in Biology

 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
 The use of logarithms (log10) allows very large ranges of numbers to be easily accommodated on a
simple axis by reducing the numbers to a scale between 0 and 10. Rather than trying to scale an
axis using divisions at 1, 10, 100 and 1000 you can use the logs of these numbers, which are 0, 1, 2
and 3 respectively. The logs express numbers in powers of 10.
 Logarithmic data is often obtained from growth experiments with microorganisms.
 You calculate the log10 by typing in the number and clicking log10 on your calculator.
 To convert values you read off a log10 graph back use base 10 (10x). So for example you might
want to determine the population at 150 minutes, read the y-value off the graph where time = 150.
This is 2.25. Converting this value in log10 back to base 10 gives 178
(3sf). You click 10x and then the Log10 number of cells against
number on your calculator. Number of cells against time for a culture of E. Coli time for a culture of E. Coli
600
3
Tim Population Log10
e as number number 500
2.5
of cells of cells

Log10 number of cells

400 2
0 1 0.0
20 2 0.3 300 N um ber of cells 1.5

40 4 0.6 1
200
60 8 0.9
0.5
80 16 1.2 100

100 32 1.5 0
120 64 1.8

0
20
40
60
80
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

10
12
14
16
18
20
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

140 128 2.1 Time Time

160 256 2.4
180 512 2.7
Example Q: The table shows population counts of Vibrio bacteria after an initial inoculum at time = 0.
a) Plot your data using a logarithmic scale for the population.
9
Use the graph paper to the right but remember to add axes
8.8
labels and a title.
8.6
b) Use your graph to estimate the likely population of cells
after 27 minutes. 8.4
c) Use extrapolation to work out the population expected after 8.2
120 minutes. 8
Time Populations/cells per 7.8
cm3
7.6
0 2116000
7.4
5 3222000
7.2
10 4523400
7
15 5120000 6.8
20 7293200 6.6
25 8167000 6.4
30 10352800 6.2
40 14434000 6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
50 28998000
60 103398000

Using Statistics in Biology

There are three statistical tests you need to be able to understand for A-level Biology as well
as standard deviation:
1) the chi-squared test to test the significance of the difference between observed and expected
results
2) the Student’s t-test to compare the difference between two means
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
3) the correlation coefficient, e.g. Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient – to look for an association
between two sets of data.
4) the use of standard deviation

What could you be asked to do in your exam:

In preparing for written examinations, it will be important for students to understand how to select a
statistical test that is appropriate for given data and to be able interpret the results of such a statistical
test. Students could also be asked to justify their choices and interpretation as well as the following:
 Formulate a null hypothesis for the experiments they perform during their class work or when given
appropriate information, for experiments carried out by others.
 Evaluate the null hypothesis of another investigator.
 Devise and justify an appropriate table in which to record their raw data.
 Devise and justify an appropriate way to represent their processed data graphically
 Evaluate the way in which another investigator has represented processed data
 Select and justify the selection of an appropriate statistical test for data they will subsequently
collect themselves or data that might be collected by others. The statistical tests are restricted to:
o chi-squared test when the data are categoric
o the Student’s t test when comparing the mean values of two sets of data
o a correlation coefficient when examining an association between two sets of data.
 Evaluate the choice of a statistical test made by another investigator.
 Interpret a given probability value in terms of the probability of the difference between observed
data and expected data (chi-squared test), the difference between the means of two samples
(Student’s t test) or a correlation between two variables (correlation coefficient) being due to
chance.
 Interpret a given probability value in terms of acceptance or rejection of a null hypothesis, using
0.05 as the critical probability value. Evaluate the conclusions from the same data made by another
commentator. Show an understanding of ‘degrees of freedom’ so that, when given appropriate
information, a student can use a given result of a statistical test to find the correct probability value
from an abridged table of values.

What will you not be asked to do in your exam:

In written examinations, students might be asked to perform simple calculations such as finding a mean
value. Students will not be asked to perform a calculation using a statistical test (or to calculate the
standard deviation of a mean).

Writing a null hypothesis

A null hypothesis is a hypothesis that says there is no statistical significance between the two
variables. It is usually the hypothesis a researcher or experimenter will try to disprove or discredit.

Example: An investigation to determine whether pH affects the rate of an enzyme controlled reaction
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
Null hypothesis: There is no significant difference between the rate at which the enzyme works at
different pHs.

Investigation Null Hypothesis

50 Grids were placed on the north side of 50 trees
and the percentage cover of lichens was counted.
This was repeated on the south side of the trees
and the average percentage cover was compared.

A group of students were classified in terms of

personality (introvert or extrovert) and in terms of
colour preference (red, yellow, green or blue) with
the purpose of seeing whether there is an
association (relationship) between personality and
colour preference.
A laboratory experiment was carried out in which
the rate of digestion of egg white was determined
at 12 different concentrations of protease enzyme.

Criminologists have long debated whether there is

a relationship between weather conditions and the
incidence of violent crime. The article “Is There a
Season for Homicide?” classified 1361 homicides
according to season; spring, summer, autumn or
winter.
Measurements of the diameter were taken of 100
xylem vessels and 100 phloem cells to determine
whether there was a difference in size of these
cells.

Volunteers who suffer from migraines were asked

to trial a new drug, Pain-Go. Some were given the
established market leader, Soreaway, and others
were given Pain-Go. Each volunteer was asked to
record the time taken to experience relief. On
average, Pain-Go worked 38 minutes faster than
Soreaway.
As light intensity increases, so does the rate of
photosynthesis (as long as CO2 and temperature
are not limiting) – Design an investigation to
determine whether this statement is true.

Choosing a statistical test

Learn this flow chart for how to decide which of the three statistical tests to use. Use the exact wording in
the boxes in your exam answer. Examples:
Q: Was the experimenter right to choose the Chi Squared test?
A: Yes, because they were finding the number of individuals in particular categories
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
Q: Which statistical test should be used for this data? Explain your answer
A: T-test. Because the investigation involves taking measurements and looking for differences between
mean values.

Which statistical test would you choose for these investigations?

Investigation Choice of Statistical Test
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
50 Grids were placed on the north side of 50 trees and
the percentage cover of lichens was counted. This was
repeated on the south side of the trees and the average
percentage cover was compared.
A group of students were classified in terms of
personality (introvert or extrovert) and in terms of
colour preference (red, yellow, green or blue) with the
purpose of seeing whether there is an association
(relationship) between personality and colour
preference.
A laboratory experiment was carried out in which the
rate of digestion of egg white was determined at 12
different concentrations of protease enzyme.

Criminologists have long debated whether there is a

relationship between weather conditions and the
incidence of violent crime. The article “Is There a
Season for Homicide?” classified 1361 homicides
according to season; spring, summer, autumn or winter.
Measurements of the diameter were taken of 100 xylem
vessels and 100 phloem cells to determine whether
there was a difference in size of these cells.

Volunteers who suffer from migraines were asked to

trial a new drug, Pain-Go. Some were given the
established market leader, Soreaway, and others were
given Pain-Go. Each volunteer was asked to record the
time taken to experience relief. On average, Pain-Go
worked 38 minutes faster than Soreaway.
As light intensity increases, so does the rate of
photosynthesis (as long as CO2 and temperature are not
limiting)– Design an investigation to determine whether
this statement is true.
Deciding if your results are significant
For each statistical test calculated (and given to you in an exam) you will end up with an ‘answer’ – this is
called the test statistic. Your next job is to work out the probability that you could get this test statistic by
chance (fluke) or does it mean your results are significant. You need to decide if you test statistic is
significant or not and come up with a conclusion as to whether to accept or reject the null hypothesis.
You need to compare your test statistic with something called a critical value. If you test statistic is greater
than the critical value your data is significant and you can reject your null hypothesis. If your test statistic
is less than your critical value than your data is not significantly different that you would expect to happen
by chance, and so you accept your null hypothesis.
Example: if you were doing an experiment to find out which colour environment maggots
preferred and you found 20,000,000 maggots went towards green light and 0 maggots went
towards red light then you could be certain that maggots preferred green light. You could be
100% confident in rejecting your null hypothesis – there is a 0% probability that these results
occurred by chance.

Statistical tests produce a test statistic that may be found in a table of probability. These tables (see next
page) show the probability that the data you observed are different due to chance alone. In Biology we
generally accept any probability greater than 5% as likely to be just chance or fluke, but probabilities of
5% or below show us that the data do differ significantly and there must be a cause influencing the
outcome.
Chi squared – degrees of freedom is the number of categories minus 1
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
T-test – useful for small sample sizes – a few repeats. Degrees of freedom = total
number of repeats/tests for both sets of data recorded, minus 2 (one for each
category)
Correlation coefficient – n is the number of pairs of data investigated

Wording in your exam:

Statistical Statement if calculated value is greater Statement if calculate value is lower than
test than critical value at 0.05/ 5% the critical value at 0.05/ 5% significance
significance level level
Correlation Calculated value is greater than the Calculated value is less than the critical
coefficient critical value so reject null hypothesis value so accept the null hypothesis

A probability of less than 0.05 or 5% A probability of more than 0.05 or 5%

that the correlation in results is due to that the correlation in results occurred
chance due to chance

OR OR
Our calculated value of Spearman’s rank Our calculated value of Spearman’s rank
correlation coefficient, rs is closer to +1 correlation coefficient, rs is not closer to
(if positive) or -1 (if negative) than the +1 (if positive) or -1 (if negative) than the
critical value. critical value.
E.g. calculated value of +0.834 closer to E.g. critical value of +0.59 is closer to +1
+1 than critical value of +0.59. than calculated value of +0.34.
There is less than 5% probability that the There is more than 5% probability that
positive correlation between the length the positive correlation between the
and mass of the whale is due to chance. length and mass of the whale is due to
chance.
We reject our null hypothesis.
We accept our null hypothesis.
Chi squared Our calculated value of Chi-squared is Our calculated value of Chi-squared is
greater than the critical value of Chi- less than the critical value of Chi-
squared. squared.

There is less than 5% probability that There is more than 5% probability that
the differences between the observed the differences between the observed
and expected data are due to chance. and expected data are due to chance.

We reject our null hypothesis. We accept our null hypothesis.

T-Test Our calculated value of t is greater than Our calculated value of t is less than the
the critical value of t. critical value of t.

There is less than 5% probability that There is more than 5% probability that
the differences in the means (mean the differences in the means (mean
mass of bacterium A and mean mass of mass of bacterium A and mean mass of
bacterium B) are due to chance. bacterium B) are due to chance.

We reject our null hypothesis. We accept our null hypothesis.

Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook

Statistics Exam Questions &

Mark-Scheme Answers:
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
1) Species richness and an index of diversity can be used to measure biodiversity within a community.

(a) What is the difference between these two measures of biodiversity?

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(1)

Scientists investigated the biodiversity of butterflies in a rainforest. Their investigation lasted

several months.

The scientists set one canopy trap and one understorey trap at five sites.

• The canopy traps were set among the leaves of the trees 16–27 m above ground level.
• The understorey traps were set under trees at 1.0–1.5 m above ground level.

The scientists recorded the number of each species of butterfly caught in the traps. The table
below summarises their results.

Species of butterfly Mean number of butterflies P value

In canopy In understorey

Prepona laertes 15 0 < 0.001

Archaeoprepona
14 37 < 0.001
demophon

Zaretis itys 25 11 > 0.05

Memphis arachne 89 23 < 0.001

Memphis offa 21 3 < 0.001

Memphis xenocles 32 8 < 0.001

(b) The traps in the canopy were set at 16–27 m above ground level. Suggest why there was
such great variation in the height of the traps.

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(1)
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
(c) By how many times is the species diversity in the canopy greater than in the understorey?
Show your working.

Use the following formula to calculate species diversity.

d=

where N is the total number of organisms of all species and n is the total number of
organisms of each species.

Answer = ...................................
(3)

(d) The scientists carried out a statistical test to see if the difference in the distribution of each
species between the canopy and understorey was due to chance. The P values obtained are
shown in the table.

Explain what the results of these statistical tests show.

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(Extra space) ................................................................................................

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(3)
(Total 8 marks)
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
(a) Species richness measures only number of (different) species / does not measure number of
individuals.
1

(b) Trees vary in height.

1

(c) 1. Index for canopy is 3.73;

2. Index for understorey is 3.30;
3. Index in canopy is 1.13 times bigger;
If either or both indices incorrect, allow correct calculation from
student’s values.
3

(d) 1. For Zaretis itys, difference in distribution is probably due to chance / probability of being
due to chance is more than 5%;
2. For all species other than Zaretis itys, difference in distribution is (highly) unlikely to be
due to chance;
3. Because P < 0.001 which is highly significant / is much lower than 5%.
3
[8]
Question Answer

A statistical test was carried out on the results 1. Differences significant;

to see if the results were significant. Both the 2. Probability of difference being due to chance less than 1%
probability values they obtained were p<0.01
Explain what this means
A statistical test was carried out on the results
to see if the results were significant. Both the 1. Differences insignificant
probability values they obtained were p>0.05 2. Probability of the differences being due to chance are greater than
Explain what this means 5%

What information does standard deviation tell  Shows how spread out all the measurements are around the mean
you?  Gives an idea of how reliable measurements are/ mean is – higher
SD = less reliable
 If standard deviation bars overlap there is no significant difference
between the two bars and any difference seen is due to chance

What is a running mean used for? Look for number of samples where mean does not change/changes
little/mean shows less fluctuation;

Were two results enough to calculate a No:

mean?  Cannot recognise which is anomalous
 Need at least 3 to calculate representative mean
Yes:
 Both results were concordant
 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
Further Practice A Level Calculations
Example Question: June 2013 Q 5 (b)
Calculate the percentage increase in the mean rate of uptake of imatinib when the temperature is
increased from 4°C to 37°C at a concentration of imatinib outside the cells of 1.0 µmol dm -3.
Give your answer to one decimal place.
4°C 37°C

0.5 4.0 10.5

1.0 10.7 32.5

Example Question: Jan 2013 – Q4(b)(ii)

 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook
Question: June 2012 - Q4 (a)

Question: Jan 2012 Q5 (b)

 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook

Question: June 2011 Q4 (b)

 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook

Question: June 2011 Q6 (c)

Question: Jan 2011 Q1 (d)

 Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook

Question: Jan 2011 Q3 (d)

Question: Jan 2011 Q5 (b)

Biology Department: Maths Skills Workbook