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Books > Science & Mathematics > Mathematics > Topology
viii homology groups. A weaker result, sufficient nevertheless for
our purposes, is proved in Chapter 5, where the reader will also
find some discussion of the need for a more powerful in variance
theorem and a summary of the proof of such a theorem. Secondly the
emphasis in this book is on low-dimensional examples the graphs and
surfaces of the title since it is there that geometrical intuition
has its roots. The goal of the book is the investigation in Chapter
9 of the properties of graphs in surfaces; some of the problems
studied there are mentioned briefly in the Introduction, which
contains an in formal survey of the material of the book. Many of
the results of Chapter 9 do indeed generalize to higher dimensions
(and the general machinery of simplicial homology theory is
avai1able from earlier chapters) but I have confined myself to one
example, namely the theorem that non-orientable closed surfaces do
not embed in three-dimensional space. One of the principal results
of Chapter 9, a version of Lefschetz duality, certainly
generalizes, but for an effective presentation such a gener-
ization needs cohomology theory. Apart from a brief mention in
connexion with Kirchhoff's laws for an electrical network I do not
use any cohomology here. Thirdly there are a number of digressions,
whose purpose is rather to illuminate the central argument from a
slight dis tance, than to contribute materially to its exposition."
University of Aarhus, 50. Anniversary, 11 September 1978
Since quasi-uniform spaces were defined in 1948, a diverse and
widely dispersed literatureconcerning them has emerged. In
Quasi-Uniform Spaces, the authors present a comprehensivestudy of
these structures, together with the theory of quasi-proximities. In
additionto new results unavailable elsewhere, the volume unites
fundamental materialheretofore scattered throughout the
literature.Quasi-Uniform Spaces shows by example that these
structures provide a natural approachto the study of point-set
topology. It is the only source for many results related to
completeness,and a primary source for the study of both transitive
and quasi-metric spaces.Included are H. Junnila's analogue of
Tamano's theorem, J. Kofner's result showing thatevery GO space is
transitive, and R. Fox's example of a non-quasi-metrizable r-space.
Inaddition to numerous interesting problems mentioned throughout
the text , 22 formalresearch problems are featured. The book
nurtures a radically different viewpoint oftopology , leading to
new insights into purely topological problems.Since every
topological space admits a quasi-uniformity, the study of
quasi-uniformspaces can be seen as no less general than the study
of topological spaces. For such study,Quasi-Uniform Spaces is a
necessary, self-contained reference for both researchers
andgraduate students of general topology . Information is made
particularly accessible withthe inclusion of an extensive index and
bibliography .
After the development of manifolds and algebraic varieties in the
previous century, mathematicians and physicists have continued to
advance concepts of space. This book and its companion explore
various new notions of space, including both formal and conceptual
points of view, as presented by leading experts at the New Spaces
in Mathematics and Physics workshop held at the Institut Henri
Poincare in 2015. This volume covers a broad range of topics in
mathematical physics, including noncommutative geometry,
supergeometry, derived symplectic geometry, higher geometric
quantization, intuitionistic quantum logic, problems with the
continuum description of spacetime, twistor theory, loop quantum
gravity, and geometry in string theory. It is addressed primarily
to mathematical physicists and mathematicians, but also to
historians and philosophers of these disciplines.
The creative process of mathematics, both historically and
individually, may be described as a counterpoint between theorems
and examples. Al though it would be hazardous to claim that the
creation of significant examples is less demanding than the
development of theory, we have dis covered that focusing on
examples is a particularly expeditious means of involving
undergraduate mathematics students in actual research. Not only are
examples more concrete than theorems-and thus more accessible-but
they cut across individual theories and make it both appropriate
and neces sary for the student to explore the entire literature in
journals as well as texts. Indeed, much of the content of this book
was first outlined by under graduate research teams working with
the authors at Saint Olaf College during the summers of 1967 and
1968. In compiling and editing material for this book, both the
authors and their undergraduate assistants realized a substantial
increment in topologi cal insight as a direct result of chasing
through details of each example. We hope our readers will have a
similar experience. Each of the 143 examples in this book provides
innumerable concrete illustrations of definitions, theo rems, and
general methods of proof. There is no better way, for instance, to
learn what the definition of metacompactness really means than to
try to prove that Niemytzki's tangent disc topology is not
metacompact. The search for counterexamples is as lively and
creative an activity as can be found in mathematics research."
The Shape of Space, Third Edition maintains the standard of
excellence set by the previous editions. This lighthearted textbook
covers the basic geometry and topology of two- and
three-dimensional spaces-stretching students' minds as they learn
to visualize new possibilities for the shape of our universe.
Written by a master expositor, leading researcher in the field, and
MacArthur Fellow, its informal exposition and engaging exercises
appeal to an exceptionally broad audience, from liberal arts
students to math undergraduate and graduate students looking for a
clear intuitive understanding to supplement more formal texts, and
even to laypeople seeking an entertaining self-study book to expand
their understanding of space. Features of the Third Edition:
Full-color figures throughout "Picture proofs" have replaced
algebraic proofs Simpler handles-and-crosscaps approach to surfaces
Updated discussion of cosmological applications Intuitive examples
missing from many college and graduate school curricula About the
Author: Jeffrey R. Weeks is a freelance geometer living in Canton,
New York. With support from the U.S. National Science Foundation,
the MacArthur Foundation and several science museums, his work
spans pure mathematics, applications in cosmology and-closest to
his heart-exposition for the general public.
"O'Shea tells the fascinating story of this mathematical mystery
and its solution by the eccentric Mr. Perelman."--"Wall Street
Journal
"In 1904, Henri Poincare, a giant among mathematicians who
transformed the fledging area of topology into a powerful field
essential to all mathematics and physics, posed the Poincare
conjecture, a tantalizing puzzle that speaks to the possible shape
of the universe. For more than a century, the conjecture resisted
attempts to prove or disprove it. As Donal O'Shea reveals in his
elegant narrative, Poincare's conjecture opens a door to the
history of geometry, from the Pythagoreans of ancient Greece to the
celebrated geniuses of the nineteenth-century German academy and,
ultimately, to a fascinating array of personalities--Poincare and
Bernhard Riemann, William Thurston and Richard Hamilton, and the
eccentric genius who appears to have solved it, Grigory Perelman.
The solution seems certain to open up new corners of the
mathematical universe.
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