A material property may also be a function of one or more independent variables, such as temperature.
Materials properties that relate to different physical phenomena often behave linearly (or approximately so) in a given operating range [further explanation needed].
Modeling them as linear functions can significantly simplify the differential constitutive equations that are used to describe the property.
Equations describing relevant materials properties are often used to predict the attributes of a system.
Many such methods have been documented by their respective user communities and published through the Internet; see ASTM International.