On products of a.e. continuous derivatives (Q1374529)

For a function \(f\:\mathbb R\to \mathbb R\), \(D_f\) denotes the set of points of discontinuity of \(f\) and \(N_f=\{f\not = 0\}\). Theorem 1. Let \(u\:\mathbb R\to \mathbb R\) be a function such that \(N_u\) is isolated. Then there are derivatives \(f\), \(g\) such that \(g\) is bounded and non-negative, \(u=f\cdot g\) and \(D_f\cup D_g\subset D_u\). Moreover, if \(u\) is bounded (resp. non-negative), then \(f\) can be chosen bounded (resp. non-negative). Theorem 2. Let \(A\) be a isolated set, \(u\: \mathbb R\to \mathbb R\) a function such that \(B=N_u\backslash A\) is non-empty and \(A\cap \operatorname {cl}B=0\). Suppose, moreover, that there is a differentiable function \(U\) such that \(U'=u\) on \(\operatorname {cl}B\). Then there are derivatives \(f\) and \(g\) such that \(u=f\cdot g\), \(g\) is non-negative and \(D_f\cup D_g \subset D_u\cup \operatorname {cl}B\). It is shown that one cannot require \(f\), \(g\) bounded if \(u\) is bounded. There is a function \(v\) such that \(D_v=N_v\) is the union of two isolated sets and \(v\) cannot be expressed as a product of two a.e. continuous derivatives.