Posted by
Russell Standish on
Jun 19, 2007; 1:00pm
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Seminal-Papers-in-Complexity-tp524047p524084.html
On Tue, Jun 19, 2007 at 08:41:14AM -0600, Michael Agar wrote:
>
> So I think I?ll work on nonlinearity for awhile. Russell writes:
> ?most of my readers understand perfectly well what a linear function
> is: one that obeys f(a*x+b*y) = a*f(x)+b*f(y).? That?s clear,
> resembles the definition in the Wikipedia entry. But then he writes :
> ?If neither * or + are defined for your objects of discussion, you
> cannot talk about (non-)linearity.? That won?t do. I have to be able
> to talk about nonlinear effects of, say, mental health policy on
> local programs in a qualitative way.
When I hear "nonlinear effects of mental health policy" I immediately
think of some variable (eg some measure of social good) that depends on
some other variable (eg money) in a nonlinear way (eg social good
varies as the square of money spent).
Whilst you may be using the term a little imprecisely by not being
quantitative, it is still a perfectly valid use of the term. However, if
the above paragraph is not what you mean, then you've immediately lost
one of your readers.
Cheers
--
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