The simplest is an extension of an idea that Isaac Newton himself had, which uses approximations to the non-linear equations to find their solutions.

ECONOMIST: Fuzzy logic

Many would defend utility theory (as well as other aspects of their standard model of behaviour) as a useful approximation, pointing out that exceptions to approximations can always be found.

ECONOMIST: News from the lab

Casting aside the usual prohibition on wearing shorts in Manhattan (this is one way we pick out tourists), six colleagues and I switched into our best approximations of camping dress and dove through my office full of outdoor gear to find anything that would help us stay cool.

FORBES: Goes Camping on the Roof

Otherwise I might laugh at the idea that a compressed recording of a singing bowl could even begin to compare to the sonic vibrations that are meant to guide my focus away from the busy-ness of everyday approximations of reality and back toward the precise experience of the present.

FORBES: Spiritual Smartphone App Makes Meditation Social

Forbes is turning to robot journalists, employing new software that mines data of various sorts and turns it into electronic approximations of the scribbler's art.

WSJ: We Can All Have a Slice of Pi | Postmodern Times by Eric Felten