"Finally, we make some remarks on why linear systems are so important. The answer is simple: because we can solve them! So most of the time we solve linear problems. Second (and most important), it turns out that the fundamental laws of physics are often linear. The Maxwell equations for the laws of electricity are linear, for example. The great laws of quantum mechanics turn out, so far as we know, to be linear equations. That is why we spend so much time on linear equations: because if we understand linear equations, we are ready, in principle, to understand a lot of things."
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Academics from the United StatesNon-fiction authors from the United StatesNobel laureates in PhysicsNobel laureates from the United StatesPhysicists from the United States
Original Language: English
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volume I; lecture 25, "Linear Systems and Review"; section 25-2, "Superposition of solutions"; p. 25-2
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman
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