Mathematical and theoretical biology is an interdisciplinary scientific research field with a range of applications in biology, biotechnology, and medicine. The field is also called mathematical biology or biomathematics to stress the mathematical side, or theoretical biology to stress the biological side. Mathematical biology aims at the mathematical representation, treatment and modeling of biological processes, using a variety of applied mathematical techniques and tools. It has both theoretical and practical applications in biological, biomedical and biotechnology research. For example, in cell biology, protein interactions are often represented as "cartoon" models, which, although easy to visualize, do not accurately describe the systems studied. This requires precise mathematical models. Describing systems in a quantitative manner means their behavior can be better simulated, and hence properties can be predicted that might not be evident to the experimenter.