While I do spend lots of time pushing the idea of linear approximations on my students, we do need nonlinear functions to describe most interesting physical phenomena. The tradeoff for that is ...

Nonlinear regression uses logarithmic functions, trigonometric functions, exponential functions, power functions, Lorenz curves, Gaussian functions, and other fitting methods. Both linear and ...

Simple phenomena, such as how sap flows down a tree trunk, are straightforward and can be captured in a few lines of code using what mathematicians call linear differential equations. But in nonlinear ...