> The default functional link for mgcv::gam is "log", so I doubt that your theoretical understanding applies to GAM's in general. When Simon Wood wrote his book on GAMs his first chapter was on linear models, his second chapter was on generalized lienar models at which point he had written over 100 pages, and only then did he "introduce" GAMs. I think you need to follow the same progression, and this forum is not the correct one for statistics education. Perhaps pose your follow-up questions to CrossValidated.com
David, thank you for your advice, has the default changed for mgcv::gam? Based upon the help pages for the version I have (1.7-27) I had thought that the default family was gaussian() with link "identity". In any event I will look again at Simon Woods' book and consider CrossValidated in the future. Best, Collin. ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.