In many cases, simple transformation of variables help to recast a non-linear model in a
linear form. For instance, suppose we wish to fit certain kinetic data to the exponential
model
=
exp(
x). There are non-linear regression programs which accomplish this
task, but we can use a linear regression procedure if we try to fit
y*
ln(
) vs. x.
This is because, we have
ln(
) = ln(
) +
x and letting
y* = ln(
)
and
= ln(
), we get
y* =
+
x. The linear regression procedure
will give
and
for the best fit.