Formal calculus and umbral calculus (Q986697)

Summary: We use the viewpoint of the formal calculus underlying vertex operator algebra theory to study certain aspects of the classical umbral calculus. We begin by calculating the exponential generating function of the higher derivatives of a composite function, following a very short proof which naturally arose as a motivating computation related to a certain crucial ``associativity'' property of an important class of vertex operator algebras. Very similar (somewhat forgotten) proofs had appeared by the 19-th century, of course without any motivation related to vertex operator algebras. Using this formula, we derive certain results, including especially the calculation of certain adjoint operators, of the classical umbral calculus.