This book offers an introductory course in algebraic topology. Starting with general topology, it discusses differentiable manifolds, cohomology, products and duality, the fundamental group, homology theory, and homotopy theory. From the reviews: "An interesting and original graduate text in topology and geometry...a good lecturer can use this text to create a fine course....A beginning graduate student can use this text to learn a great deal of mathematics."—-MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS
This excellent introduction to topology eases first-year math students and general readers into the subject by surveying its concepts in a descriptive and intuitive way, attempting to build a bridge from the familiar concepts of geometry to the formalized study of topology. The first three chapters focus on congruence classes defined by transformations in real Euclidean space. As the number of permitted transformations increases, these classes become larger, and their common topological properties become intuitively clear. Chapters 4–12 give a largely intuitive presentation of selected topics. In the remaining five chapters, the author moves to a more conventional presentation of continuity, sets, functions, metric spaces, and topological spaces. Exercises and Problems. 101 black-and-white illustrations. 1974 edition.
This book represents a novel approach to differential topology. Its main focus is to give a comprehensive introduction to the classification of manifolds, with special attention paid to the case of surfaces, for which the book provides a complete classification from many points of view: topological, smooth, constant curvature, complex, and conformal. Each chapter briefly revisits basic results usually known to graduate students from an alternative perspective, focusing on surfaces. We provide full proofs of some remarkable results that sometimes are missed in basic courses (e.g., the construction of triangulations on surfaces, the classification of surfaces, the Gauss-Bonnet theorem, the degree-genus formula for complex plane curves, the existence of constant curvature metrics on conformal surfaces), and we give hints to questions about higher dimensional manifolds. Many examples and remarks are scattered through the book. Each chapter ends with an exhaustive collection of problems and a list of topics for further study. The book is primarily addressed to graduate students who did take standard introductory courses on algebraic topology, differential and Riemannian geometry, or algebraic geometry, but have not seen their deep interconnections, which permeate a modern approach to geometry and topology of manifolds.
Written by physicists for physics students, this text assumes no detailed background in topology or geometry. Topics include differential forms, homotopy, homology, cohomology, fiber bundles, connection and covariant derivatives, and Morse theory. 1983 edition.
Geometry aims to describe the world around us. It is central to many branches of mathematics and physics, and offers a whole range of views on the universe. This is an introduction to the ideas of geometry and includes generous helpings of simple explanations and examples. The book is based on many years teaching experience so is thoroughly class-tested, and as prerequisites are minimal, it is suited to newcomers to the subject. There are plenty of illustrations; chapters end with a collection of exercises, and solutions are available for teachers.
The uniqueness of this text in combining geometric topology and differential geometry lies in its unifying thread: the notion of a surface. With numerous illustrations, exercises and examples, the student comes to understand the relationship of the modern abstract approach to geometric intuition. The text is kept at a concrete level, avoiding unnecessary abstractions, yet never sacrificing mathematical rigor. The book includes topics not usually found in a single book at this level.
Geometric Topology is a foundational component of modern mathematics, involving the study of spacial properties and invariants of familiar objects such as manifolds and complexes. This volume, which is intended both as an introduction to the subject and as a wide ranging resouce for those already grounded in it, consists of 21 expository surveys written by leading experts and covering active areas of current research. They provide the reader with an up-to-date overview of this flourishing branch of mathematics.
The book combines topics in mathematics (geometry and topology), computer science (algorithms), and engineering (mesh generation). The original motivation for these topics was the difficulty faced (both conceptually and in the technical execution) in any attempt to combine elements of combinatorial and of numerical algorithms. Mesh generation is a topic where a meaningful combination of these different approaches to problem solving is inevitable. The book develops methods from both areas that are amenable to combination, and explains recent breakthrough solutions to meshing that fit into this category.The book should be an ideal graduate text for courses on mesh generation. The specific material is selected giving preference to topics that are elementary, attractive, lend themselves to teaching, useful, and interesting.
The Geometry and Topology of Coxeter Groups is a comprehensive and authoritative treatment of Coxeter groups from the viewpoint of geometric group theory. Groups generated by reflections are ubiquitous in mathematics, and there are classical examples of reflection groups in spherical, Euclidean, and hyperbolic geometry. Any Coxeter group can be realized as a group generated by reflection on a certain contractible cell complex, and this complex is the principal subject of this book. The book explains a theorem of Moussong that demonstrates that a polyhedral metric on this cell complex is nonpositively curved, meaning that Coxeter groups are "CAT(0) groups." The book describes the reflection group trick, one of the most potent sources of examples of aspherical manifolds. And the book discusses many important topics in geometric group theory and topology, including Hopf's theory of ends; contractible manifolds and homology spheres; the Poincaré Conjecture; and Gromov's theory of CAT(0) spaces and groups. Finally, the book examines connections between Coxeter groups and some of topology's most famous open problems concerning aspherical manifolds, such as the Euler Characteristic Conjecture and the Borel and Singer conjectures.
Accessible, concise, and self-contained, this book offers an outstanding introduction to three related subjects: differential geometry, differential topology, and dynamical systems. Topics of special interest addressed in the book include Brouwer's fixed point theorem, Morse Theory, and the geodesic flow. Smooth manifolds, Riemannian metrics, affine connections, the curvature tensor, differential forms, and integration on manifolds provide the foundation for many applications in dynamical systems and mechanics. The authors also discuss the Gauss-Bonnet theorem and its implications in non-Euclidean geometry models. The differential topology aspect of the book centers on classical, transversality theory, Sard's theorem, intersection theory, and fixed-point theorems. The construction of the de Rham cohomology builds further arguments for the strong connection between the differential structure and the topological structure. It also furnishes some of the tools necessary for a complete understanding of the Morse theory. These discussions are followed by an introduction to the theory of hyperbolic systems, with emphasis on the quintessential role of the geodesic flow. The integration of geometric theory, topological theory, and concrete applications to dynamical systems set this book apart. With clean, clear prose and effective examples, the authors' intuitive approach creates a treatment that is comprehensible to relative beginners, yet rigorous enough for those with more background and experience in the field.
