Author: Jeff Goldsmith, Fabian Scheipl
Date: 2026-04-24

# tf Vectors and Operations

#### Jeff Goldsmith, Fabian Scheipl

#### 2026-04-24

This vignette introduces the `tf` class, as well as the `tfd` and `tfb` subclasses, and focuses on vectors of this class. It also illustrates operations for `tf` vectors.

# `tf`-Class: Definition

## `tf`-class

`tf` is a new data type for (vectors of) functional data:

- an abstract superclass for functional data in 2 forms:

  - as (argument, value)-tuples: subclass `tfd`, also irregular or sparse
  - or in basis representation: subclass `tfb` represents each observed function as a weighted sum of a fixed dictionary of known “basis functions”.

- basically, a `list` of numeric vectors
  (… since `list`s work well as columns of data frames …)

- with additional attributes that define function-like behavior:

  - how to evaluate the given “functions” for new arguments
  - their domain: the range of valid argument values

- `S3` based

## Example Data

First we extract a `tf` vector from the `tidyfun::dti_df` dataset containing fractional anisotropy tract profiles for the corpus callosum (`cca`). When printed, `tf` vectors show the first few `arg` and `value` pairs for each subject.

    data("dti_df")

    cca <- dti_df$cca
    cca
    ## irregular tfd[382]: [0,1] -> [0.2528541,0.8282126] based on 73 to 93 (mean: 93) evaluations each
    ## interpolation by tf_approx_linear
    ## 1001_1: (0.000,0.49);(0.011,0.52);(0.022,0.54); ...
    ## 1002_1: (0.000,0.47);(0.011,0.49);(0.022,0.50); ...
    ## 1003_1: (0.000,0.50);(0.011,0.51);(0.022,0.54); ...
    ## 1004_1: (0.000,0.40);(0.011,0.42);(0.022,0.44); ...
    ## 1005_1: (0.000,0.40);(0.011,0.41);(0.022,0.40); ...
    ## 1006_1: (0.000,0.45);(0.011,0.45);(0.022,0.46); ...
    ##     [....]   (376 not shown)

We also extract a simple 5-element vector of functions on a regular grid:

    cca_five <- cca[1:5, seq(0, 1, length.out = 93), interpolate = TRUE]
    rownames(cca_five) <- LETTERS[1:5]
    cca_five <- tfd(cca_five, signif = 2)
    cca_five
    ## tfd[5]: [0,1] -> [0.3662524,0.6747586] based on 93 evaluations each
    ## interpolation by tf_approx_linear
    ## A: ▅▇█▇▅▄▄▄▄▄▅▅▅▅▅▅▄▃▂▂▃▄▅▆▆▇
    ## B: ▄▆▆▅▄▄▄▄▃▃▅▅▄▄▃▃▃▃▃▄▄▆▆▇▆▆
    ## C: ▅▇▇▅▄▃▃▃▃▄▃▃▄▄▄▄▃▂▃▃▃▅▅▅▅█
    ## D: ▂▄▆▇▆▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▄▄▃▃▃▄▅▆▇▆
    ## E: ▁▂▄▅▅▃▂▂▃▃▂▃▃▄▄▃▃▃▃▂▁▁▃▄▆▆

For illustration, we plot the vector `cca_five` below.

    plot(cca_five, xlim = c(-0.15, 1), col = pal_5)
    text(x = -0.1, y = cca_five[, 0.07], labels = names(cca_five), col = pal_5)

## `tf` subclass: `tfd`

`tfd` objects contain “raw” functional data:

- represented as a list of `evaluations` \(f_i(t)|_{t=t'}\) and corresponding `arg`ument vector(s) \(t'\)
- has a `domain`: the range of valid `arg`s.

    cca_five |>
      tf_evaluations() |>
      str()
    ## List of 5
    ##  $ A: num [1:93] 0.491 0.517 0.536 0.555 0.593 ...
    ##  $ B: num [1:93] 0.472 0.487 0.502 0.523 0.552 ...
    ##  $ C: num [1:93] 0.502 0.514 0.539 0.574 0.603 ...
    ##  $ D: num [1:93] 0.402 0.423 0.44 0.46 0.475 ...
    ##  $ E: num [1:93] 0.402 0.406 0.399 0.386 0.409 ...
    cca_five |>
      tf_arg() |>
      str()
    ##  num [1:93] 0 0.0109 0.0217 0.0326 0.0435 ...
    cca_five |> tf_domain()
    ## [1] 0 1

- each `tfd`-vector contains an `evaluator` function that defines how to inter-/extrapolate `evaluations` between `arg`s

    tf_evaluator(cca_five) |> str()
    ## function (x, arg, evaluations)
    tf_evaluator(cca_five) <- tf_approx_spline

- `tfd` has two subclasses: one for regular data with a common grid and one for irregular or sparse data. The `cca` data are irregular (values are missing for some subjects at some arguments) but the example below more clearly illustrates support for sparse and irregular data using CD4 cell counts from a longitudinal study included in `refund`.

    cd4_vec <- tfd(refund::cd4)

    cd4_vec[1:2]
    ## irregular tfd[2]: [-18,42] -> [181,893] based on 3 to 4 (mean: 4) evaluations each
    ## interpolation by tf_approx_linear
    ## [1]: (-9,548);(-3,893);( 3,657)
    ## [2]: (-3,752);( 3,459);( 9,181); ...
    cd4_vec[1:2] |>
      tf_arg() |>
      str()
    ## List of 2
    ##  $ : num [1:3] -9 -3 3
    ##  $ : num [1:4] -3 3 9 15
    cd4_vec[1:20] |> plot(pch = "x", col = viridis(20))

## `tf` subclass: `tfb`

Functional data in basis representation:

- represented as a list of `coefficients` and a common `basis_matrix` of basis function evaluations on a vector of `arg`-values.
- contains a `basis` function that defines how to evaluate the basis functions for new `arg`s and how to differentiate or integrate it.
- (internal) flavors:
  - `tfb_spline`: uses `mgcv`-spline bases
  - `tfb_fpc`: uses functional principal components
- significant memory and time savings:

    refund::DTI$cca |>
      object.size() |>
      print(units = "Kb")
    ## 307.7 Kb
    cca |>
      object.size() |>
      print(units = "Kb")
    ## 782.4 Kb
    cca |>
      tfb(verbose = FALSE) |>
      object.size() |>
      print(units = "Kb")
    ## 181.6 Kb

### `tfb_spline`: spline basis

- default for `tfb()`
- accepts all arguments of `mgcv`’s `s()`-syntax: basis type `bs`, basis dimension `k`, penalty order `m`, etc…
- also does non-Gaussian fits: `family` argument
  - all exponential families
  - but also: \(t\)-distribution, ZI-Poisson, Beta, …

    cca_five_b <- cca_five |> tfb()
    ## Percentage of input data variability preserved in basis representation
    ## (per functional observation, approximate):
    ## Min. 1st Qu.  Median Mean 3rd Qu.  Max.
    ## 95.60 96.40 96.90 97.12 98.00 98.70
    cca_five_b[1:2]
    ## tfb[2]: [0,1] -> [0.41581,0.6516056] in basis representation:
    ##  using  s(arg, bs = "cr", k = 25, sp = -1)
    ## A: ▆██▆▃▃▃▄▄▄▄▄▅▅▄▄▃▁▁▁▂▄▅▆▇▇
    ## B: ▅▇▆▃▃▄▄▃▃▃▅▅▃▃▂▂▂▂▃▄▅▆▇▇▆▇
    cca_five[1:2] |> tfb(bs = "tp", k = 55)
    ## Percentage of input data variability preserved in basis representation
    ## (per functional observation, approximate):
    ## Min. 1st Qu.  Median Mean 3rd Qu.  Max.
    ## 99.10 99.22 99.35 99.35 99.47 99.60
    ## tfb[2]: [0,1] -> [0.4147803,0.6551594] in basis representation:
    ##  using  s(arg, bs = "tp", k = 55, sp = -1)
    ## A: ▅██▆▃▃▃▄▃▄▄▄▄▅▄▄▃▁▁▁▂▄▅▆▇▆
    ## B: ▄▇▆▃▄▄▄▃▃▃▅▄▃▃▂▂▂▂▃▄▄▆▆▇▆▆

    # functions represent ratios in (0,1), so a Beta-distribution is more appropriate:
    cca_five[1:2] |>
      tfb(bs = "ps", m = c(2, 1), family = mgcv::betar(link = "cloglog"))
    ## Percentage of input data variability preserved in basis representation
    ## (on inverse link-scale per functional observation, approximate):
    ## Min. 1st Qu.  Median Mean 3rd Qu.  Max.
    ## 99.40 99.47 99.55 99.55 99.62 99.70
    ## tfb[2]: [0,1] -> [0.4173213,0.6475771] in basis representation:
    ##  using  s(arg, bs = "ps", k = 25, m = c(2, 1), sp = -1) (Beta regression with cloglog-link)
    ## A: ▆██▆▃▃▃▄▄▄▄▄▅▅▄▄▃▁▁▁▂▄▅▆▇▇
    ## B: ▄▇▆▃▃▄▄▃▃▃▅▅▃▃▂▂▂▂▃▄▅▆▇▇▆▇

### Penalization:

Function-specific (default), none, prespecified (`sp`), or global:

    layout(t(1:2))
    cca_five |> plot()
    cca_five_b |> plot(col = "red")
    cca_five |>
      tfb(k = 35, penalized = FALSE) |>
      lines(col = "blue")
    ## Percentage of input data variability preserved in basis representation
    ## (per functional observation, approximate):
    ## Min. 1st Qu.  Median Mean 3rd Qu.  Max.
    ## 98.5 98.6 98.7 99.0 99.6 99.6
    cca_five |>
      tfb(sp = 0.001) |>
      lines(col = "orange")
    ## Percentage of input data variability preserved in basis representation
    ## (per functional observation, approximate):
    ## Min. 1st Qu.  Median Mean 3rd Qu.  Max.
    ## 72.60 75.90 76.50 76.54 77.20 80.50

Right plot shows smoothing with function-specific penalization in red, without penalization in blue, and with manually set strong smoothing (`sp` \(\to 0\)) in orange.

“Global” smoothing:

1. estimate smoothing parameters for subsample (~10%) of curves
2. apply geometric mean of estimated smoothing parameters to smooth all curves

Advantages:

- (much) faster than optimizing penalization for each curve
- should scale well for largish datasets

Disadvantages

- no real borrowing of information across curves (very sparse or functional fragment data, e.g.)
- still requires more observations than basis functions per curve
- subsample could miss small subgroups with different roughness, over-/undersmooth parts of the data, see below.

Dataset with heterogeneous roughness:

    layout(t(1:3))
    clrs <- scales::alpha(sample(viridis(15)), 0.5)
    plot(raw, main = "raw", col = clrs)
    plot(tfb(raw, k = 55), main = "separate", col = clrs)
    ## Percentage of input data variability preserved in basis representation
    ## (per functional observation, approximate):
    ## Min. 1st Qu.  Median Mean 3rd Qu.  Max.
    ## 72.20 88.65 94.80 92.06 96.55 97.70
    plot(tfb(raw, k = 55, global = TRUE), main = "global", col = clrs)
    ## Using global smoothing parameter `sp = 0` estimated on subsample of curves.
    ## Percentage of input data variability preserved in basis representation
    ## (per functional observation, approximate):
    ## Min. 1st Qu.  Median Mean 3rd Qu.  Max.
    ## 71.20 80.35 86.40 86.46 95.00 96.90

### `tfb` FPC-based

- uses first few eigenfunctions computed from a simple unregularized (weighted) SVD of the data matrix by default
- corresponding FPC basis and mean function saved as `tfd`-object
- observed functions are linear combinations of those.
- amount of “smoothing” can be controlled (roughly!) by setting the minimal percentage of variance explained `pve`

    cca_five_fpc <- cca_five |> tfb_fpc(pve = 0.999)
    cca_five_fpc
    ## tfb[5]: [0,1] -> [0.3662524,0.6747586] in basis representation:
    ##  using  4 FPCs
    ## A: ▅█▇▆▄▄▄▄▄▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▄▂▂▂▃▅▅▆▇▆
    ## B: ▅▇▆▃▄▄▄▄▃▄▅▅▄▃▃▃▃▃▃▄▄▆▆▇▆▆
    ## C: ▆▇▆▄▄▃▄▃▃▄▃▃▄▄▄▃▃▃▃▃▃▅▆▃▇█
    ## D: ▃▅▇▇▆▅▅▄▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▄▃▃▃▃▄▅▆▇▆
    ## E: ▁▃▅▅▄▂▂▃▃▃▂▃▄▄▃▃▃▃▃▁▁▂▃▆▆▅

    cca_five_fpc_lowrank <- cca_five |> tfb_fpc(pve = 0.6)
    cca_five_fpc_lowrank
    ## tfb[5]: [0,1] -> [0.3641026,0.6458109] in basis representation:
    ##  using  2 FPCs
    ## A: ▅█▇▆▅▅▅▄▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▄▄▃▃▃▄▆▆▇▇▇
    ## B: ▆█▇▅▄▄▄▄▄▄▅▅▅▄▄▄▄▃▃▄▄▆▆▆▇█
    ## C: ▆█▇▄▄▄▄▃▃▄▄▄▄▄▄▃▃▃▃▄▄▆▆▅▇█
    ## D: ▃▆██▆▅▅▅▅▅▆▆▅▆▅▅▅▃▃▂▃▅▅█▇▆
    ## E: ▁▃▅▆▄▂▂▃▃▃▃▃▄▄▄▃▃▃▃▁▁▂▄▆▇▆

    layout(t(1:2))
    cca_five |> plot()
    cca_five_fpc |> plot(col = "red", ylab = "tfb_fpc(cca_five)")
    cca_five_fpc_lowrank |> lines(col = "blue", lty = 2)

`tfb_fpc` is currently only implemented for data on identical (but possibly non-equidistant) grids. The `{refunder}` `rfr_fpca`-functions provide FPCA methods appropriate for highly irregular and sparse data and regularized/smoothed FPCA.

# `tf`-Class: Methods

`tidyfun` implements almost all types of operations that are available for conventional numerical or logical vectors for `tf`-vectors as well, so you can:

### subset & subassign:

    cca_five[1:2]
    ## tfd[2]: [0,1] -> [0.4117148,0.655613] based on 93 evaluations each
    ## interpolation by tf_approx_spline
    ## A: ▄██▇▄▃▃▄▄▄▄▄▄▅▄▄▄▂▁▁▂▄▅▆▆▇
    ## B: ▃▆▆▄▃▄▄▃▃▃▄▅▄▃▂▂▂▂▃▃▄▅▆▇▆▇
    cca_five[1:2] <- cca_five[2:1]
    cca_five
    ## tfd[5]: [0,1] -> [0.3662524,0.6747586] based on 93 evaluations each
    ## interpolation by tf_approx_spline
    ## A: ▄▆▆▅▄▄▄▄▃▃▅▅▄▄▃▃▃▃▃▄▄▆▆▇▆▆
    ## B: ▅▇█▇▅▄▄▄▄▄▅▅▅▅▅▅▄▃▂▂▃▄▅▆▆▇
    ## C: ▅▇▇▅▄▃▃▃▃▄▃▃▄▄▄▄▃▂▃▃▃▅▅▅▅█
    ## D: ▂▄▆▇▆▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▄▄▃▃▃▄▅▆▇▆
    ## E: ▁▂▄▅▅▃▂▂▃▃▂▃▃▄▄▃▃▃▃▂▁▁▃▄▆▆

### compare & compute:

    cca_five[1] + cca_five[1] == 2 * cca_five[1]
    ## [1] TRUE
    log(exp(cca_five[2])) == cca_five[2]
    ## [1] TRUE
    (cca_five - (2:-2)) != cca_five
    ## [1]  TRUE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE

### summarize across a vector of functions:

Compute functional summaries like mean functions, functional standard deviations or variances or functional data depths over a vector of functional data:

    c(mean = mean(cca_five), sd = sd(cca_five))
    ## tfd[2]: [0,1] -> [0.01060056,0.6165761] based on 93 evaluations each
    ## interpolation by tf_approx_spline
    ## mean: ▇███▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▆▆▆▆▇▇███
    ## sd  : ▁▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

    tf_depth(cca_five) ## Modified Band-2 Depth (a la Sun/Genton/Nychka, 2012), others to come.
    ##        A        B        C        D        E
    ## 1.221739 1.293478 1.319565 1.145652 1.019565
    median(cca_five) == cca_five[which.max(tf_depth(cca_five))]
    ## [1] TRUE
    summary(cca_five)
    ## tfd[6]: [0,1] -> [0.3662524,0.6747586] based on 93 evaluations each
    ## interpolation by tf_approx_spline
    ## min      : ▁▂▄▄▃▃▂▂▃▃▂▃▃▄▃▃▃▂▂▂▁▁▃▃▅▆
    ## lower_mid: ▄▆▆▅▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▄▄▃▃▃▂▂▂▃▄▅▄▅▆
    ## median   : ▅▇▇▅▄▃▃▃▃▄▃▃▄▄▄▄▃▂▃▃▃▅▅▅▅█
    ## mean     : ▃▅▆▆▅▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▃▃▃▃▃▄▅▆▆▇
    ## upper_mid: ▅▇█▇▅▄▄▄▄▄▅▅▅▅▅▅▄▃▃▄▄▆▆▇▇█
    ## max      : ▅▇█▇▆▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▄▄▃▄▄▆▆▇▇█

### summarize each function over its domain:

Compute summaries for each function like its mean or extreme values, quantiles, etc.

    tf_fmean(cca_five) # mean of each function's evaluations
    ##         A         B         C         D         E
    ## 0.5202229 0.5266713 0.5090638 0.5308612 0.4661378
    tf_fmax(cca_five) # max of each function's evaluations
    ##         A         B         C         D         E
    ## 0.6269639 0.6556130 0.6747586 0.6135842 0.6075271
    # 25%-tile of each f(t) for t > .5:
    tf_fwise(cca_five, \(x) quantile(x$value[x$arg > 0.5], prob = 0.25)) |> unlist()
    ##     A.25%     B.25%     C.25%     D.25%     E.25%
    ## 0.4747946 0.4675452 0.4650627 0.4770205 0.4462774

`tf_fwise` can be used to define custom statistics for each function that can depend on both its `value` and its `arg`.

In addition, `tidyfun` provides methods for operations that are specific for functional data:

## Methods for “functional” operations

### evaluate:

`tf`-objects have a special `[`-operator: Its second argument specifies `arg`ument values at which to evaluate the functions and has some additional options, so it’s easy to get point values for `tf` objects, in `matrix` or `data.frame` formats:

    cca_five[1:2, seq(0, 1, length.out = 3)]
    ##           0       0.5         1
    ## A 0.4721627 0.4984125 0.5802742
    ## B 0.4909345 0.5307563 0.5904773
    ## attr(,"arg")
    ## [1] 0.0 0.5 1.0
    cca_five["B", seq(0, 0.15, length.out = 3), interpolate = FALSE]
    ##           0 0.075 0.15
    ## B 0.4909345    NA   NA
    ## attr(,"arg")
    ## [1] 0.000 0.075 0.150
    cca_five[1:2, seq(0, 1, length.out = 7), matrix = FALSE] |> str()
    ## List of 2
    ##  $ A:'data.frame':   7 obs. of  2 variables:
    ##   ..$ arg  : num [1:7] 0 0.167 0.333 0.5 0.667 ...
    ##   ..$ value: num [1:7] 0.472 0.475 0.476 0.498 0.475 ...
    ##  $ B:'data.frame':   7 obs. of  2 variables:
    ##   ..$ arg  : num [1:7] 0 0.167 0.333 0.5 0.667 ...
    ##   ..$ value: num [1:7] 0.491 0.521 0.504 0.531 0.472 ...

### (simple, local) smoothing

    layout(t(1:3))
    cca_five |> plot(alpha = 0.2, ylab = "lowess")
    cca_five |>
      tf_smooth("lowess") |>
      lines(col = pal_5)
    ## Using `f = 0.15` as smoother span for `lowess()`.

    cca_five |> plot(alpha = 0.2, ylab = "rolling median (k=5)")
    cca_five |>
      tf_smooth("rollmedian", k = 5) |>
      lines(col = pal_5)
    ## Setting `fill = 'extend'` for start/end values.

    cca_five |> plot(alpha = 0.2, ylab = "Savitzky-Golay (quartic, 11 steps)")
    cca_five |>
      tf_smooth("savgol", fl = 11) |>
      lines(col = pal_5)

### differentiate & integrate:

    layout(t(1:3))
    cca_five |> plot(col = pal_5)
    cca_five |>
      tf_smooth() |>
      tf_derive() |>
      plot(col = pal_5, ylab = "tf_derive(tf_smooth(cca_five))")
    ## Using `f = 0.15` as smoother span for `lowess()`.
    cca_five |>
      tf_integrate(definite = FALSE) |>
      plot(col = pal_5)

    cca_five |> tf_integrate()
    ##         A         B         C         D         E
    ## 0.5202229 0.5266713 0.5090638 0.5308612 0.4661378

### query

`tidyfun` makes it easy to find (ranges of) `arg`uments \(t\) satisfying a condition on `value` \(f(t)\) (and `arg`ument \(t\)):

    cca_five |> tf_anywhere(value > 0.65)
    ##     A     B     C     D     E
    ## FALSE  TRUE  TRUE FALSE FALSE
    cca_five[1:2] |> tf_where(value > 0.6, "all")
    ## $A
    ## [1] 0.07608696 0.89130435 0.90217391 0.91304348 0.92391304 0.96739130 0.97826087
    ##
    ## $B
    ##  [1] 0.05434783 0.06521739 0.07608696 0.08695652 0.09782609 0.10869565
    ##  [7] 0.11956522 0.13043478 0.14130435 0.95652174 0.96739130 0.97826087
    cca_five[2] |> tf_where(value > 0.6, "range")
    ##        begin       end
    ## B 0.05434783 0.9782609
    cca_five |> tf_where(value > 0.6 & arg > 0.5, "first")
    ##         A         B         C         D         E
    ## 0.8913043 0.9565217 0.9565217 0.9347826 0.9347826

### zoom & query

    cca_five |> plot(xlim = c(-0.15, 1), col = pal_5, lwd = 2)
    text(x = -0.1, y = cca_five[, 0.07], labels = names(cca_five), col = pal_5, cex = 1.5)
    median(cca_five) |> lines(col = pal_5[3], lwd = 4)

    # where are the first maxima of these functions?
    cca_five |> tf_where(value == max(value), "first")
    ##          A          B          C          D          E
    ## 0.90217391 0.07608696 1.00000000 0.10869565 0.93478261

    # where are the first maxima of the later part (t > .5) of these functions?
    cca_five[c("A", "D")] |>
      tf_zoom(0.5, 1) |>
      tf_where(value == max(value), "first")
    ##         A         D
    ## 0.9021739 0.9565217

    # which f_i(t) are below the functional median anywhere for 0.2 < t < 0.6?
    # (t() needed here so we're comparing column vectors to column vectors...)
    cca_five |>
      tf_zoom(0.2, 0.6) |>
      tf_anywhere(value <= t(median(cca_five)[, arg]))
    ##     A     B     C     D     E
    ##  TRUE FALSE  TRUE FALSE  TRUE