topic entry on topology


TopologyMathworldPlanetmath is a branch of mathematics that arose from the study of geometry. Topology can be viewed as the study of spaces, and more specifically as the study of those properties of spaces that are invariant under smooth deformation. It has been said that a topologist is a person who cannot tell a doughnut from a coffee cup, as both spaces have a single “hole”, and each can be continuously deformed into the other.

A topological space (http://planetmath.org/TopologicalSpace) is a set of points together with a definition of which sets are open sets. This definition is called a topology (http://planetmath.org/TopologicalSpace) on the space. For example, any metric space can be seen as a topological space, where the prototypical open set is an open ball of any radius around a center.

There are several major branches of topology:

Other general topological topics include

See also the attached bibliography for topology.

Title topic entry on topology
Canonical name TopicEntryOnTopology
Date of creation 2013-03-22 17:59:57
Last modified on 2013-03-22 17:59:57
Owner rm50 (10146)
Last modified by rm50 (10146)
Numerical id 13
Author rm50 (10146)
Entry type Topic
Classification msc 55-00
Classification msc 54-00
Related topic OverviewOfTheContentOfPlanetMath