Characterizations of derivations on incidence algebras by local actions.

Let (X , ≤) be a locally finite pre-ordered set and R be a commutative ring with unity. In this paper we apply the theory of zero product determined algebras to show that each linear map on the incidence algebra I (X , R) which is derivable at zero is a generalized derivation and every local derivation on I (X , R) is a derivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]