Whats the first step in converting my raw data into functional form?
A functional data object expresses a function as a weighted sum or linear combination of elementary functional building blocks called basis functions. The conversion of the growth data to functional form requires two step: choosing and defining a set of basis functions, and computing the best linear combination for each girl’s set of discrete height measurements. We choose B-spline basis functions as our basis function system. three decades, such as kernel and spline smoothing methods, have been applied to growth data. These methods have been successful at detecting new features missed by parametric models, but they are not guaranteed. We choose B-spline basis functions as our basis function system. Why B-spline basis functions? We want a basis system that can fit the most general kind of data, and growth data seem to be like this. The data for a single girl range from heights of 75 or so centimeters at one year old to about 165 centimeters at full height (most people are surprised tha
