Recently molecular biology has undergone unprecedented development generating vast quantities of data needing sophisticated computational methods for analysis, processing and archiving. This requirement has given birth to the truly interdisciplinary field of computational biology, or bioinformatics, a subject reliant on both theoretical and practical contributions from statistics, mathematics, computer science and biology.Provides the background mathematics required to understand why certain algorithms workGuides the reader through probability theory, entropy and combinatorial optimizationIn–depth coverage of molecular biology and protein structure predictionIncludes several less familiar algorithms such as DNA segmentation, quartet puzzling and DNA strand separation predictionIncludes class tested exercises useful for self–studySource code of programs available on a Web sitePrimarily aimed at advanced undergraduate and graduate students from bioniformatics, computer science, statistics, mathematics and the biological sciences, this text will also interest researchers from these fields.