Contents

Preface: Four Ways to Use This Book ix

(1) A textbook for introductory topology: Potential road maps ix
(2) Topology courses beyond an introductorycourse xi
(3) Independent study projects xi
(4) Joyful challenges for independent learners xii
A word about prerequisites xii
Acknowledgments xii
Introduction: The Enchanting World of Topology 1
Enticements to Topology 1
Learning to Create Mathematics 2
Introduction to Set-Theoretic Topology 4

Part 1 Point-Set Topology 7

1 Cardinality: To Infinity and Beyond 9
1.1 Sets and Functions 9
1.2 Cardinality and Countable Sets 12
1.3 Uncountable Sets and Power Sets 14
1.4 The Schroeder-Bernstein Theorem 16
1.5 The Axiom of Choice 18
1.6 Ordinal Numbers 21
1.7 To Infinity and Beyond 24
2 Topological Spaces: Fundamentals 27
2.1 Rubber Sheet Geometry and Special Sets 27
2.2 Open Sets and the Definition of a Topological Space 30
2.3 Limit Points and Closed Sets 33
2.4 Interior and Boundary 38
2.5 Convergence of Sequences 38
2.6 Topological Essentials 39
3 Bases, Subspaces, Products: Creating New Spaces 41
3.1 Bases 41
3.2 Subbases 45
3.3 Order Topology 46
3.4 Subspaces 47
3.5 Product Spaces 49
3.6 A Bounty of New Spaces 53
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4 Separation Properties: Separating This from That 55

4.1 Hausdorff, Regular, and Normal Spaces 56
4.2 Separation Properties and Products 59
4.3 A Question of Heredity 59
4.4 The Normality Lemma 61
4.5 Separating This from That 62

5 Countable Features of Spaces: Size Restrictions 65

5.1 Separable Spaces, An Unfortunate Name 65
5.2 2nd Countable Spaces 67
5.3 1st Countable Spaces 67
5.4 The Souslin Property 69
5.5 Count on It 69

6 Compactness: The Next Best Thing to Being Finite 71

6.1 Compact Sets 72
6.2 The Heine-Borel Theorem 74
6.3 Compactness and Products 75
6.4 Countably Compact, Lindelöf Spaces 76
6.5 Paracompactness 78
6.6 Covering Up Reveals Strategies for Producing Mathematics 80

7 Continuity: When Nearby Points Stay Together 81

7.1 Continuous Functions 81
7.2 Properties Preserved by Continuous Functions 84
7.3 Homeomorphisms 86
7.4 Product Spaces and Continuity 88
7.5 Quotient Maps and Quotient Spaces 89
7.6 Urysohn’s Lemma and the Tietze Extension Theorem 94
7.7 Continuity—Functions that Know Topology 99

8 Connectedness: When Things Don’t Fall into Pieces 101

8.1 Connectedness 102
8.2 Cardinality, Separation Properties, and Connectedness 105
8.3 Components and Continua 106
8.4 Path or Arcwise Connectedness 111
8.5 Local Connectedness 112
8.6 Totally Disconnected Spaces and the Cantor Set 115
8.7 Hanging Together—Staying Connected 117

9 Metric Spaces: Getting Some Distance 119

9.1 Metric Spaces 119
9.2 Continuous Functions between Metric Spaces 123
9.3 Lebesgue Number Theorem 124
9.4 Complete Spaces 125
9.5 Metric Continua 127
9.6 Metrizability 128
9.7 Advanced Metrization Theorems 129
9.8 Paracompactness of Metric Spaces 133
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9.9 Going the Distance 133

Part 2 Algebraic and Geometric Topology 135

10 Transition From Point-Set Topology to Algebraic and Geometric

Topology: Similar Strategies, Different Domains 137
10.1 Effective Thinking Principles—Strategies for Creating Concepts 138
10.2 Onward: To Algebraic and Geometric Topology 139
10.3 Manifolds and Complexes: Building Locally, Studying Globally 140
10.4 The Homeomorphism Problem 141
10.5 Same Strategies, Different Flavors 142

11 Classification of 2-Manifolds: Organizing Surfaces 145

11.1 Examples of 2-Manifolds 145
11.2 The Classification of 1-Manifolds 149
11.3 Triangulability of 2-Manifolds 149
11.4 The Classification of 2-Manifolds 150
11.5 The Connected Sum 157
11.6 Polygonal Presentations of 2-Manifolds 158
11.7 Another Classification of Compact 2-Manifolds 159
11.8 Orientability 162
11.9 The Euler Characteristic 164
11.10 Manifolds with Boundary 166
11.11 Classifying 2-Manifolds: Going Below the Surface of Surfaces 168

12 Fundamental Group: Capturing Holes 169

12.1 Invariants and Homotopy 170
12.2 Induced Homomorphisms and Invariance 180
12.3 Homotopy Equivalence and Retractions 181
12.4 Van Kampen’s Theorem 185
12.5 Lens Spaces 189
12.6 Knot Complements 192
12.7 Higher Homotopy Groups 195
12.8 The Fundamental Group—Not Such a Loopy, Loopy Idea 196

13 Covering Spaces: Layering It On 197

13.1 Basic Results and Examples 198
13.2 Lifts 198
13.3 Regular Covers and Cover Isomorphism 201
13.4 The Subgroup Correspondence 203
13.5 Theorems about Free Groups 204
13.6 Covering Spaces and 2-Manifolds 205
13.7 Covers are Cool 206

14 Manifolds, Simplices, Complexes, and Triangulability: Building

Blocks 207
14.1 Manifolds 207
14.2 Simplicial Complexes 210
14.3 Simplicial Maps and PL Homeomorphisms 213
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14.4 Simplicial Approximation 215

14.5 Sperner’s Lemma and the Brouwer Fixed Point Theorem 219
14.6 The Jordan Curve Theorem, the Schoenflies Theorem, and the
Triangulability of 2-Manifolds 221
14.7 Simple Simplices; Complex Complexes; Manifold Manifolds 227
15 Simplicial ℤ2 -Homology: Physical Algebra 229
15.1 Motivation for Homology 230
15.2 Chains, Cycles, Boundaries, and the Homology Groups 232
15.3 Induced Homomorphisms and Invariance 238
15.4 The Mayer-Vietoris Theorem 243
15.5 Introduction to Cellular Homology 246
15.6 Homology Is Easier Than It Seems 250
16 Applications of ℤ2 -Homology: A Topological Superhero 251
16.1 The No Retraction Theorem 251
16.2 The Brouwer Fixed Point Theorem 252
16.3 The Borsuk-Ulam Theorem 252
16.4 The Ham Sandwich Theorem 253
16.5 Invariance of Domain 254
16.6 An Arc Does Not Separate the Plane 254
16.7 A Ball Does Not Separate ℝ𝑛 256
16.8 The Jordan-Brouwer Separation Theorem 258
16.9 ℤ2 -Homology—A Topological Superhero 262
17 Simplicial ℤ-Homology: Getting Oriented 263
17.1 Orientation and ℤ-Homology 264
17.2 Relative Simplicial Homology 270
17.3 Some Homological Algebra 273
17.4 Useful Exact Sequences 275
17.5 Homotopy Invariance and Cellular Homology—Same as ℤ2 276
17.6 Homology and the Fundamental Group 277
17.7 The Degree of a Map 278
17.8 The Lefschetz Fixed Point Theorem 279
17.9 ℤ-Homology—A Step in Abstraction 281
18 Singular Homology: Abstracting Objects to Maps 283
18.1 Eilenberg-Steenrod Axioms 284
18.2 Singular Homology 285
18.3 Topological Invariance and the Homotopy Axiom 288
18.4 Relative Singular Homology 290
18.5 Excision 291
18.6 A Singular Abstraction 294
19 The End: A Beginning—Reflections on Topology and Learning 295
A Group Theory Background 299
A.1 Group Theory 299
Index 307