Lee University’s Dr. Steven Lay recently presented at the 20th Biennial Conference of the Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences (ACMS). His talk, titled “The Mathematics of Evolution,” included excerpts from a series of lessons on how mathematics can be applied to the understanding of evolution.

This year’s conference was held at Redeemer University College in Ontario, Canada. Over 100 professors and other scholars were in attendance.

The lessons featured in Lay’s presentation, taken from the curriculum developed primarily by Lay for Lee’s contemporary mathematics course, discuss the implications of radiometric dating, the probabilities associated with origin and progression of life, and the nature of DNA.

According to Lay, the entire course includes such topics as logical thinking, scientific notation, linear functions, estimation, and probability, and it concludes with the lessons on evolution.

“By studying the mathematics behind the theory of evolution, the lessons show that evolution between species is highly improbable if not impossible to occur in the real world,” said Lay.

Lay, a senior adjunct professor of mathematics, joined Lee’s faculty in 1998. Prior to his time at Lee, Lay taught math for 19 years at Aurora University in Illinois and then did missions work in Japan for eight years. He has written several college-level textbooks on both math and Japanese culture.

Originally from Pasadena, California, Lay and his wife Ann have two children.

For more information about the ACMS, visit http://www.acmsonline.org/.

For more information about Lee’s Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, call (423) 614-8275.