Generalized Differentiability of Continuous Functions

Abstract

Many physical phenomena give rise to mathematical models in terms of fractal, non-differentiable functions. The paper introduces a broad generalization of the derivative in terms of the maximal modulus of continuity of the primitive function. These derivatives are called indicial derivatives. As an application, the indicial derivatives are used to characterize the nowhere monotonous functions. Furthermore, the non-differentiability set of such derivatives is proven to be of measure zero. As a second application, the indicial derivative is used in the proof of the Lebesgue differentiation theorem. Finally, the connection with the fractional velocities is demonstrated.