Difference between functional data and traditional statistical data

The difference between functional data and traditional statistical data is that the observed discrete points are not regarded as a series of numbers, but fitted by curves. Functional data analysis was first proposed by JimRamsay in 199 1. This is a curve fitting, as a whole, the basis of data analysis. The assumption of discrete data fitting is that the potential generation process of two adjacent discrete points is smooth. Traditional statistics refers to the numerical values obtained through scientific experiments, tests and statistics, which are used for scientific research, technical design, verification and decision-making.