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Steven Gubkin
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Let $\omega$ be a differential $k$-form on $\mathbb{R}^n$. Let $v_1,v_2,...,v_{k+1}$ be $k$ vectors in the tangent space to $\mathbb{R}^n$ at the point $p \in \mathbb{R}^n$.

Given scaling factors $h_1,h_2,...,h_{k+1}$ of the vectors $v_1,v_2,...,v_{k+1}$, we get a parallelepiped $V_h$ defined by the vectors $h_1v_1,h_2v_2,...,h_{k+1}v_{k+1}$. Let $bV_h$ be the oriented boundary of this parallelepiped.

Then the exterior derivative of $\omega$ can be defined by the formula

$$d \omega (p)(v_1,v_2,...,v_{k+1}) = \lim_{h_i \to 0} \frac{1}{h_1h_2...h_{k+1}}\int_{bV_{h}} \omega $$

Notice that this reduces to the definition of the derivative in the case $k=1$ (In this case integration of a zero form over an oriented collection of points is just signed summation).

So I propose the definition:

A $k$-form $\omega$ on $\mathbb{R}^n$ is said to be differentiable if there is a $k+1$-form $d\omega$ such that

$$\int_{bV_{h}} \omega = h_1h_2...h_{k+1} d\omega(p)(v_1,v_2,...,v_{k+1}) + \epsilon|h_1h_2...h_{k+1}|$$

where $\epsilon \to 0$ as the $h_i \to 0$

Steven Gubkin
  • 12.5k
  • 2
  • 86
  • 115