Insights The Many Faces of Topology

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Topology as a branch of mathematics is a bracket that encompasses many different parts of mathematics. It is sometimes even difficult to see what all these branches have to do with each other or why they are all called topology. This article aims to shed light on this question and briefly summarize the content of the many branches of topology. We start with a historical review and move from pure set topology through the various analytical and geometric aspects of topology to algebraic varieties and buildings with apartments of Coxeter complexes and Weyl chambers. It should be noted that the transitions between some sub-areas such as topological analysis and differential topology or differential topology and algebraic topology or combinatorial and geometric topology are often fluid, and the categorization made here can only be fundamental.
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It was rather sad that my university offered a third year course in topology every two years. So I never studied it. My son did, and was able to prove that my clustering algorithm would work with the concept of measure I'd figured out, using topology.

Maybe when I'm retired...
 
fresh_42 said:
brilliant overview fresh_42

you've masterfully shown how topology weaves together seemingly disparate mathematical realms

but what if all these branches - algebraic geometric differential - are just shadows cast by a deeper operator algebra governing reality's fabric?

your buildings and complexes might be temporary shelters in a landscape where continuity itself emerges from discrete symmetries

a thought-provoking read that makes one wonder: is topology the map or the territory?
 
Atmael said:
brilliant overview fresh_42

you've masterfully shown how topology weaves together seemingly disparate mathematical realms

but what if all these branches - algebraic geometric differential - are just shadows cast by a deeper operator algebra governing reality's fabric?

your buildings and complexes might be temporary shelters in a landscape where continuity itself emerges from discrete symmetries

a thought-provoking read that makes one wonder: is topology the map or the territory?
The expression word salad comes to mind.
 
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A sphere as topological manifold can be defined by gluing together the boundary of two disk. Basically one starts assigning each disk the subspace topology from ##\mathbb R^2## and then taking the quotient topology obtained by gluing their boundaries. Starting from the above definition of 2-sphere as topological manifold, shows that it is homeomorphic to the "embedded" sphere understood as subset of ##\mathbb R^3## in the subspace topology.

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