On derivations with respect to finite sets of smooth functions (Q1747980)

Derivations are additive mappings of a ring into itself that possesses the so-called Leibniz rule. More precisely, if \((R, +, \cdot)\) is a ring, then a function \(d \colon R \to R\) is called a derivation if, for all \(x, y \in R\), \[ d(x+y)=d(x)+d(y) \] and \[ d(xy)=xd(y)+yd(x) \] holds. In the literature, there are several well-known characterization theorems concerning derivations. At the same time, in most of the cases such results have the following form: additivity and another (algebraic) property that imply that the mapping in question is a derivation. The purpose of this paper is to show that functions that derivate the two-variable product function (that is, functions that possess the Leibniz rule) and one among exponential, trigonometric or hyperbolic functions are also derivations in the standard sense. The more general problem considered here is to describe finite sets of differentiable functions such that derivations with respect to this set are automatically standard derivations.