Mathematics Atlas

How Proof Is Made
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Branches of Mathematic

Topology

Also Known As Rubber-sheet Geometry
Topology

Sometimes called rubber-sheet geometry: the study of properties of a space that survive continuous deformation, stretching and bending but not tearing or gluing. A coffee cup and a doughnut are topologically the same shape, each with exactly one hole. The field grew out of Leonhard Euler's 1736 solution to the Seven Bridges of Konigsberg problem and matured through the twentieth century into algebraic and differential topology, culminating in results such as the 2003 proof of the Poincare conjecture.

Facts
Central Question
Which properties of a space survive continuous deformation, and how can spaces be classified by those properties alone, independent of any notion of distance or angle? 2
Key Debate
Whether topology is fundamentally about the intuitive picture of rubber-sheet shape, or whether, as the categorical reframing of the subject holds, it is really about structure-preserving maps between spaces, a description under which the intuitive picture of stretching and bending is only a special, if illuminating, case. 2
Classification
Pure or Applied
Pure Mathematics 1
Connections

Associated With

Source MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive

Includes

Source Brouwer Fixed-Point Theorem (Wikipedia)

Missing in-branch edge found while every sibling theorem entity in this pass already carried both in-category and in-branch; the entity already carries in-category.

Source Compact Space (Wikipedia)
Source Connected Sum (Wikipedia)
Source Degree of a Continuous Mapping (Wikipedia)
Source Ernst Leonard Lindelöf (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Freedman classification
Source Generalized Poincaré conjecture (Wikipedia)
Source Heinrich Tietze (Wikipedia)
Source Hilbert Cube (Wikipedia)
Source Homeomorphism (Wikipedia)
Source Jun-iti Nagata (Wikipedia)
Source Kazhdan's Property (T) (Wikipedia)
Source Klein Bottle (Wikipedia)
Source Kuiper's theorem, Wikipedia
Source MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
Manifold, Concepts
Source Manifold (Wikipedia)
Metric Space, Concepts
Source Metric Space (Wikipedia)
Source Michael Atiyah (Wikipedia)
Source Möbius Strip (Wikipedia)
Source Nagata-Smirnov metrization theorem, Wikipedia
Source Novikov conjecture (Wikipedia)
Source Pavel Urysohn (Wikipedia)
Additional Source Poincare Conjecture (Wikipedia)Introduction
Source René Maurice Fréchet (Wikipedia)
Source Smash Product (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Pure mathematics (Wikipedia)
20th century, formalization of topology
Quote, 20th century, formalization of topology
Major advances in the beginning of 20th century was the formalization of abstract algebra and topology; these two fields were deeply influenced by the pure mathematics philosophy.
View the Source
2. MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
University of St Andrews, School of Mathematics and Statistics
  • https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/HistTopics/Topology_in_mathematics/
    Topological ideas are present in almost all areas of today's mathematics. The subject of topology itself consists of several different branches, such as point set topology, algebraic topology and differential topology, which have relatively little in common.
  • Associated With: Henri Poincare, https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Poincare/
    Henri Poincare can be said to have been the originator of algebraic topology and of the theory of analytic functions of several complex variables.
View the Source
Topology (Britannica)
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.opening definition
Quote, opening definition
Topology, branch of mathematics, sometimes referred to as rubber sheet geometry, in which two objects are considered equivalent if they can be continuously deformed into one another.
View the Source
Wikipedia: Topology
Wikimedia FoundationLead section, opening paragraph
Quote, Lead section, opening paragraph
the branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations
View the Source
Brouwer Fixed-Point Theorem (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Brouwer Fixed-Point Theorem, opening sentence
Quote, Includes: Brouwer Fixed-Point Theorem, opening sentence
It states that for any continuous function f mapping a nonempty compact convex set to itself, there is a point x0 such that f(x0) = x0.
View the Source
Metric Space (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Metric Space, lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Metric Space, lead paragraph
a metric space is a set together with a notion of distance between its points
View the Source
Manifold (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Manifold, lead paragraph
Quote, Includes: Manifold, lead paragraph
a manifold is a topological space that locally resembles Euclidean space near each point
View the Source
Michael Atiyah (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIncludes: Michael Atiyah, Lead section
Quote, Includes: Michael Atiyah, Lead section
His contributions include the Atiyah-Singer index theorem and co-founding topological K-theory.
View the Source
Poincare Conjecture (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Poincare Conjecture, Introduction
Quote, Includes: Poincare Conjecture, Introduction
In the mathematical field of geometric topology, the Poincare conjecture is a theorem about the characterization of the 3-sphere.
View the Source
Klein Bottle (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Klein BottleView the Source
Möbius Strip (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Möbius StripView the Source
Homeomorphism (Wikipedia)
Includes: Homeomorphism, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Homeomorphism, Lead sentence
In mathematics and more specifically in topology, a homeomorphism (from Greek roots meaning "similar shape", named by Henri Poinca
View the Source
Connected Sum (Wikipedia)
Includes: Connected Sum, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Connected Sum, Lead sentence
In mathematics, specifically in topology, the operation of connected sum is a geometric modification on manifolds.
View the Source
Hilbert Cube (Wikipedia)
Includes: Hilbert Cube, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Hilbert Cube, Lead sentence
provides an instructive example of some ideas in topology.
View the Source
Degree of a Continuous Mapping (Wikipedia)
Includes: Degree of a Continuous Mapping, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Degree of a Continuous Mapping, Lead sentence
In topology, the degree or Brouwer degree of a continuous mapping between two compact oriented manifolds of the same dimension is
View the Source
Smash Product (Wikipedia)
Includes: Smash Product, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Smash Product, Lead sentence
In topology, a branch of mathematics, the smash product of two pointed spaces (i.e.
View the Source
Generalized Poincaré conjecture (Wikipedia)
Includes: Generalized Poincare Conjecture, Lead sentenceView the Source
Novikov conjecture (Wikipedia)
Includes: Novikov Conjecture, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Novikov Conjecture, Lead sentence
is one of the most important unsolved problems in topology.
View the Source
Nagata-Smirnov metrization theorem, Wikipedia
Includes: Nagata-Smirnov Metrization Theorem, Lead sentenceView the Source
Wikipedia: Freedman classification
WikipediaIncludes: Freedman's Theorem, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Freedman's Theorem, Lead sentence
In topology in mathematics, Freedman's classification (or Freedman's theorem) is a central result about four-dimensional topologic
View the Source
Kuiper's theorem, Wikipedia
Includes: Kuiper's Theorem, Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Kuiper's Theorem, Lead sentence
heorem (after Nicolaas Kuiper) is a result on the topology of operators on an infinite-dimensional, complex Hilbert space H.
View the Source
Kazhdan's Property (T) (Wikipedia)
Includes: Kazhdan's Property (T), Lead sentence
Quote, Includes: Kazhdan's Property (T), Lead sentence
point in its unitary dual equipped with the Fell topology.
View the Source
René Maurice Fréchet (Wikipedia)
Includes: Rene Frechet, Lead paragraph [in-branch]
Quote, Includes: Rene Frechet, Lead paragraph [in-branch]
general topology
View the Source
Heinrich Tietze (Wikipedia)
Includes: Heinrich Tietze, Lead paragraph [in-branch]
Quote, Includes: Heinrich Tietze, Lead paragraph [in-branch]
topological spaces
View the Source
Pavel Urysohn (Wikipedia)
Includes: Pavel Urysohn, Lead paragraph [in-branch]
Quote, Includes: Pavel Urysohn, Lead paragraph [in-branch]
fundamental results in topology
View the Source
Ernst Leonard Lindelöf (Wikipedia)
Includes: Ernst Leonard Lindelof, Lead paragraph [in-branch 3]
Quote, Includes: Ernst Leonard Lindelof, Lead paragraph [in-branch 3]
topology
View the Source
Jun-iti Nagata (Wikipedia)
Includes: Jun-iti Nagata, Lead paragraph [in-branch]
Quote, Includes: Jun-iti Nagata, Lead paragraph [in-branch]
specializing in topology
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.