Topology
Topology is the mathematical study of shapes and topological spaces. It is an area of mathematics concerned with the properties of space that are preserved under continuous deformations including stretching and bending, but not tearing or gluing. This includes such properties as connectedness, continuity and boundary. Topology developed as a field of study out of geometry and set theory, through analysis of such concepts as space, dimension, and transformation. Such ideas go back to Leibniz, who in the 17th century envisioned the
geometria situs and
analysis situs. The term
topology was introduced by Johann Benedict Listing in the 19th century, although it was not until the first decades of the 20th century that the idea of a topological space was developed. By the middle of the 20th century, topology had become a major branch of mathematics. Topology has many subfields: ▪
General topology establishes the foundational aspects of topology and investigates properties of topological spaces and investigates concepts inherent to topological spaces. It includes point-set topology, which is the foundational topology used in all other branches.