Now, tempered distributions are functions that assign a complex number to a very rapidly decaying function (a Schwarz space function), and it satisfies linearity properties. So this is a function that takes functions and maps them to complex numbers. https://secure.math.ubc.ca/~feldman/m321/distributions.pdf
Some mathematical concepts are needed in order to present rigorous results. While one can argue about the necessity and relevance of these results for real-world applications, they at least explain various aspects of deep learning in restricted settings, leading to a better general understanding and intuition.
In general, the dual of a space of functions is a space of set functions, aka measures. https://keithalewis.github.io/math/dual.html