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Physics often deals with classical models where the dynamical variables are a collection of functions {φ}α over a d-dimensional space/spacetime manifold M where α is the "flavor" index. This involves functionals over the φ's, functional derivatives, functional integrals, etc. From a functional point of view this is equivalent to working with an infinite-dimensional smooth manifold where its points are an assignment of a function for each α, and the procedure is in analogy with differential geometry where the coordinates for a point x of the manifold M are φ.
In the DeWitt notation , φ is written as φ where i is now understood as an index covering both α and x.
So, given a smooth functional A, A,i stands for the functional derivative
as a functional of φ. In other words, a "1-form" field over the infinite dimensional "functional manifold".