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Introduction to Topology: Pure and Applied
For juniors and seniors of various majors, taking a first course in topology. This book introduces topology as an important and fascinating mathematics discipline. Students learn first the basics of point-set topology, which is enhanced by the real-world application of these concepts to science, economics, and engineering as well as other areas of mathematics. The second half of the book focuses on topics like knots, robotics, and graphs. The text is written in an accessible way for a range of undergraduates to understand the usefulness and importance of the application of topology to other fields.
- GenresMathematicsTextbooks
512 pages, Hardcover
First published June 28, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 17, 2024
Awesome book!
I wanted to get some practice and internalize topological mode of thinking, which seems to be useful for studying topos theory (which takes lots of inspiration in topology after all, even if I'm interested mostly in the logical aspects), and this book does the trick. The text is accessible, and the exercises are very manageable. I also had some topology back in my university as a part of the functional analysis course, but it was quite harsh, and this book also helped me to overcome a sort of PTSD I had from that course.
The choice for me was largely between this book and Munkres (whose text is generally recommended and widely used for studying basic topology, as far as I can tell), and I don't regret going with this one. The applications portions of the text were also a nice break from the abstract stuff (and yet more abstract stuff I'll be probably doing next).
As a side note, there are some typos in the text, so be sure to get the errata. But, which book doesn't?
Now, onwards to abstract stuff!
I wanted to get some practice and internalize topological mode of thinking, which seems to be useful for studying topos theory (which takes lots of inspiration in topology after all, even if I'm interested mostly in the logical aspects), and this book does the trick. The text is accessible, and the exercises are very manageable. I also had some topology back in my university as a part of the functional analysis course, but it was quite harsh, and this book also helped me to overcome a sort of PTSD I had from that course.
The choice for me was largely between this book and Munkres (whose text is generally recommended and widely used for studying basic topology, as far as I can tell), and I don't regret going with this one. The applications portions of the text were also a nice break from the abstract stuff (and yet more abstract stuff I'll be probably doing next).
As a side note, there are some typos in the text, so be sure to get the errata. But, which book doesn't?
Now, onwards to abstract stuff!
February 7, 2015
6/23/2014: A really really good book. Colin did a great job introducing topology to the reader with illustrative figures and important notes that readers/students usually make mistakes on. I have only skimmed through some application sections because I want to read this as fast as possible but they are also pretty fascinating.
7/7/2014: I'm currently on chapter 5, and this book doesn't stop impressing me. You can literally read this like a novel. However, of course, to acquire a better understanding of a topic, you might want to do the exercises as well (though I'm pretty bad at this.) The problems are very well chosen; they help the reader to review certain definitions and theorems as he continues reading.
7/7/2014: I'm currently on chapter 5, and this book doesn't stop impressing me. You can literally read this like a novel. However, of course, to acquire a better understanding of a topic, you might want to do the exercises as well (though I'm pretty bad at this.) The problems are very well chosen; they help the reader to review certain definitions and theorems as he continues reading.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
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