Operator expansion in the derivative and multiplication by x

We generalize to several variables Kurbanow and Maksimov's result that all linear polynornial operators can be expressed as a formal sum in terms of the derivative D (or any degree reducing operator) and multiplication by x.Applications to numerical analysis are given. In contrast, we characterize those linear operators that can be expressed as a formal sum and give several examples. The set of such operators is closed under composition. Generalizations to several variables and arbitrary degree reducing operators are considered.