Functional decomposition

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In engineering, functional decomposition is the process of resolving a functional relationship into its constituent parts in such a way that the original function can be reconstructed (i.e., recomposed) from those parts.

This process of decomposition may be undertaken to gain insight into the identity of the constituent components, which may reflect individual physical processes of interest. Also, functional decomposition may result in a compressed representation of the global function, a task which is feasible only when the constituent processes possess a certain level of modularity (i.e., independence or non-interaction).

Interaction (statistics)(a situation in which one causal variable depends on the state of a second causal variable)^[clarify] between the components are critical to the function of the collection. All interactions may not be observable, or measured^[clarify], but possibly deduced through repetitive perception^[clarify], synthesis, validation and verification of composite behavior.