Two Pointwise Characterizations of the Peano Derivative

We provide the first two examples of sets of generalized Riemann derivatives of orders up to $n$, $n\geq 2$, whose simultaneous existence for all functions~$f$ at~$x$ is equivalent to the existence of the $n$-th Peano derivative $f_{(n)}(x)$. In this way, we begin to understand how the theory of Peano derivatives can be explained exclusively in terms of generalized Riemann derivatives, a bold new principle in generalized differentiation. In 1936, J. Marcinkiewicz and A. Zygmund showed that the existence of $f_{(n)}(x)$ is equivalent to the existence of both $f_{(n-1)}(x)$ and the $n$th generalized Riemann derivative $\widetilde{D}_nf(x)$, based at $x,x+h,x+2h,x+2^2h,\ldots ,x+2^{n-1}h$. Our first characterization of $f_{(n)}(x)$ is that its existence is equivalent to the simultaneous existence of $\widetilde{D}_1f(x),\ldots,\widetilde{D}_nf(x)$. Our second characterization is that the existence of $f_{(n)}(x)$ is equivalent to the existence of $\widetilde{D}_1f(x)$ and of all $n(n-1)/2$ forward shifts, $$D_{k,j}f(x)=\lim_{h\rightarrow 0} h^{-k}\sum_{i=0}^k(-1)^i\binom ki f(x+(k+j-i)h),$$ for $j=0,1,\ldots,k-2$, of the $k$-th Riemann derivatives $D_{k,0}f(x)$, for $k=2,\ldots ,n$. The proof of the second result involves an interesting combinatorial algorithm that starts with consecutive forward shifts of an arithmetic progression and yields a geometric progression, using two set-operations: dilation and combinatorial Gaussian elimination. This result proves a variant of a 1998 conjecture by Ginchev, Guerragio and Rocca, predicting the same outcome for backward shifts instead of forward shifts. The conjecture has been recently settled in [5], with a proof that has this variant's proof as a prerequisite.