We develop new approximation algorithms and data structures for representing
and computing with multivariate functions using the functional tensor-train
(FT), a continuous extension of the tensor-train (TT) decomposition. The FT
represents functions using a tensor-train ansatz by replacing the
three-dimensional TT cores with univariate matrix-valued functions. The main
contribution of this paper is a framework to compute the FT that employs
adaptive approximations of univariate fibers, and that is not tied to any
tensorized discretization. The algorithm can be coupled with any univariate
linear or nonlinear approximation procedure. We demonstrate that this approach
can generate multivariate function approximations that are several orders of
magnitude more accurate, for the same cost, than those based on the
conventional approach of compressing the coefficient tensor of a tensor-product
basis. Our approach is in the spirit of other continuous computation packages
such as Chebfun, and yields an algorithm which requires the computation of
"continuous" matrix factorizations such as the LU and QR decompositions of
vector-valued functions. To support these developments, we describe continuous
versions of an approximate maximum-volume cross approximation algorithm and of
a rounding algorithm that re-approximates an FT by one of lower ranks. We
demonstrate that our technique improves accuracy and robustness, compared to TT
and quantics-TT approaches with fixed parameterizations, of high-dimensional
integration, differentiation, and approximation of functions with local
features such as discontinuities and other nonlinearities