Generalized gradients and applications

A theory of generalized gradients for a general class of functions is developed, as well as a corresponding theory of normals to arbitrary closed sets. It is shown how these concepts subsume the usual gradients and normals of smooth functions and manifolds, and the subdifferentials and normals of convex analysis. A theorem is proved concerning the differentiability properties of a function of the form maxg (x, u): u e if. This result unifies and extends some theorems of Danskin and others. The results are then applied to obtain a characterization of flow-invariant sets which yields theorems of Bony and Brezis as corollaries.