The theory of weak functions. I

Abstract

This paper develops the theory of distributions or generalized functions without any reference to test functions and with no appeal to topology, apart from the concept of weak convergence. In the calculus of weak functions, which is so obtained, a weak function is always a weak derivative of a numerical continuous function, and the fundamental techniques of multiplication, division and passage to a limit are considerably simplified. The theory is illustrated by application to Fourier transforms. The present paper is restricted to weak functions in one dimension. The extension to several dimensions will be published later.