Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Solve a system of nonlinear equations using substitution.
- Solve a system of nonlinear equations using elimination.
- Graph a nonlinear inequality.
- Graph a system of nonlinear inequalities.
Halley’s Comet orbits the sun about once every 75 years. Its path can be considered to be a very elongated ellipse. Other comets follow similar paths in space. These orbital paths can be studied using systems of equations. These systems, however, are different from the ones we considered in the previous section because the equations are not linear.
Figure 1. Halley’s Comet (credit: "NASA Blueshift"/Flickr)