  We study the Parisi functional, appearing in the Parisi formula for the
pressure of the SK model, as a functional on Ruelle's Probability Cascades
(RPC). Computation techniques for the RPC formulation of the functional are
developed. They are used to derive continuity and monotonicity properties of
the functional retrieving a theorem of Guerra. We also detail the connection
between the Aizenman-Sims-Starr variational principle and the Parisi formula.
As a final application of the techniques, we rederive the Almeida-Thouless line
in the spirit of Toninelli but relying on the RPC structure.
