.History Originally topologogy was developed to clarify the ideas of space, limit, nearness, continuous, ... Nowadays topology is used in software theory to model how finite approximations can imply infinite properties - in particular ideas like infiniely close and `infinitely large`. The key idea is that some conditons that are carried over as the finite becomes infinite. Thus topology is concerned with the how an infinite sequence can "look as if it was going to a particular value" and the way a function's values change as its arguments change in a smooth way. It is based on a study of sets of points in a space. For example in a certain kind of sets if a series stays in the set then if series tends to a limit, the limit is forced to remain in the set as well. Other sets can allow a limit of an internal sequence to escape. It took people about 100 to 200 years to abstract the essence of these ideas - they are very abstract, and so very powerful, and so worthy of study.
[ logic_31_Families_of_Sets.html ] Use open and closed families plus filters and refinement.
Spaces
A space has a set of points with a defined topology:
The next section collects many major ideas together. Later sections give more information on specific topics.
There are many approaches to defining a topology of a space, differing only in theire appeal to different people. This one starts with the 'closure' operation. Others follow.
To 'close' a set is to add points to it - those points that we decide are infinitely close to or on the edge of the set. The result of 'close' is a 'closed' set.
For x:X, Y:@X, x in close(Y)=x is close to or inside Y.
If we removes a closed set from a space then we remove its "edge" as well an leave behind a set that is said to be open.
Note well: there are sets that are both open and closed, and there can be sets that are neither open or closed.
Text Book Definitions.
There are other ways to define a topology. The text book starting point is from either a closed or an open family of subsets of the space S.
Once you have got a set of points and the set of all open sets than you have determined the shape of the space. Knowing the closed sets determines the shape as well. As an example suppose that the whole space S>=={A,B} and both A,B in open, then clearly its possible for a sequence to be in A and for its limit to jump to B and vice versa - the space is not connected.
if you can fill this hole]
Similarly:
Notice that {x0..x0+ε)||ε>=0} is not because [x0..x0) =0).
Hausdorff spaces have unique limits (if any).
Adherence/Accumulation points.
Even though a function may not have a unique limit (at a point, as x->oo,...) it may still get close to one or more points while avoiding coming to a unique limit. For example fun[n]((-1)^n(1+1/n)) in Seq(Real) tends to accumulate at or adhere to both -1 and +1.
A easily understood definition of continuity at a point is that the limit of the function at that point is the value of the function at that point:
In the vernacular: If it looks like its going there, then it gets there.. (C(p)) ::=(Continuous(p))::=(Continuous(p))::=Continuous at p,
(Continuous(p))X arrow Y={f:X arrow Y||for all A:@X( if p in X.close(A) then f(p) in f(A))},
(F)X arrow Y ::={f:X arrow Y|| for all A:@X(if A in F then f(A) in F)}.
(topological) ::=(Closed)&(Continuous).
Example - stereographic projection of a sphere onto a plane.
Subspaces and relative topologies
Many properties are propagated from space to subspace:
Embedding.
??|-(topology)X-->Y iff for some Z((topology)X---Z and Z subspace Y).
For Family:{open,closed,...}, elementary(Family) ::={(U><V):@(X><Y)|| U in Family(X) and V in Family(Y)}).
. . . . . . . . . ( end of section Topology) <<Contents | End>>
Notes on MATHS Notation
Special characters are defined in
[ intro_characters.html ]
that also outlines the syntax of expressions and a document.
Proofs follow a natural deduction style that start with assumptions ("Let") and continue to a consequence ("Close Let") and then discard the assumptions and deduce a conclusion. Look here [ Block Structure in logic_25_Proofs ] for more on the structure and rules.
The notation also allows you to create a new network of variables and constraints. A "Net" has a number of variables (including none) and a number of properties (including none) that connect variables. You can give them a name and then reuse them. The schema, formal system, or an elementary piece of documentation starts with "Net" and finishes "End of Net". For more, see [ notn_13_Docn_Syntax.html ] for these ways of defining and reusing pieces of logic and algebra in your documents. A quick example: a circle = Net{radius:Positive Real, center:Point}.
For a complete listing of pages in this part of my site by topic see [ home.html ]
Notes on the Underlying Logic of MATHS
The notation used here is a formal language with syntax
and a semantics described using traditional formal logic
[ logic_0_Intro.html ]
plus sets, functions, relations, and other mathematical extensions.
For a more rigorous description of the standard notations see