非线性是指两个变量间的关系，是不成简单比例（即线性）关系的。

所谓线性，从数学上来讲，是指方程的解满足线性叠加原理。即方程任意两个解的线性叠加仍然是方程的一个解。线性意味着系统的简单性，但自然现象就其本质来说，都是复杂的，非线性的。所幸的是，自然界中的许多现象都可以在一定程度上近似为线性。传统的物理学和自然科学就是为各种现象创建线性模型，并取得了巨大的成功。但随着人类对自然界中各种复杂现象的深入研究，越来越多的非线性现象开始进入人类的视野。

In physics and other sciences, a nonlinear system, in contrast to a linear system, is a system which does not satisfy the superposition principle – meaning that the output of a nonlinear system is not directly proportional to the input.

In mathematics, a nonlinear system of equations is a set of simultaneous equations in which the unknowns (or the unknown functions in the case of differential equations) appear as variables of a polynomial of degree higher than one or in the argument of a function which is not a polynomial of degree one. In other words, in a nonlinear system of equations, the equation(s) to be solved cannot be written as a linear combination of the unknown variables or functions that appear in them. It does not matter if nonlinear known functions appear in the equations. In particular, a differential equation is linear if it is linear in terms of the unknown function and its derivatives, even if nonlinear in terms of the other variables appearing in it.