Filter (set theory)In mathematics, a filter on a set is a family of subsets such that: and if and , then If , and , then A filter on a set may be thought of as representing a "collection of large subsets", one intuitive example being the neighborhood filter. Filters appear in order theory, model theory, and set theory, but can also be found in topology, from which they originate. The dual notion of a filter is an ideal.
Pseudometric spaceIn mathematics, a pseudometric space is a generalization of a metric space in which the distance between two distinct points can be zero. Pseudometric spaces were introduced by Đuro Kurepa in 1934. In the same way as every normed space is a metric space, every seminormed space is a pseudometric space. Because of this analogy the term semimetric space (which has a different meaning in topology) is sometimes used as a synonym, especially in functional analysis. When a topology is generated using a family of pseudometrics, the space is called a gauge space.
First-countable spaceIn topology, a branch of mathematics, a first-countable space is a topological space satisfying the "first axiom of countability". Specifically, a space is said to be first-countable if each point has a countable neighbourhood basis (local base). That is, for each point in there exists a sequence of neighbourhoods of such that for any neighbourhood of there exists an integer with contained in Since every neighborhood of any point contains an open neighborhood of that point, the neighbourhood basis can be chosen without loss of generality to consist of open neighborhoods.
Real numberIn mathematics, a real number is a number that can be used to measure a continuous one-dimensional quantity such as a distance, duration or temperature. Here, continuous means that pairs of values can have arbitrarily small differences. Every real number can be almost uniquely represented by an infinite decimal expansion. The real numbers are fundamental in calculus (and more generally in all mathematics), in particular by their role in the classical definitions of limits, continuity and derivatives.
Uniform spaceIn the mathematical field of topology, a uniform space is a topological space with additional structure that is used to define uniform properties, such as completeness, uniform continuity and uniform convergence. Uniform spaces generalize metric spaces and topological groups, but the concept is designed to formulate the weakest axioms needed for most proofs in analysis. In addition to the usual properties of a topological structure, in a uniform space one formalizes the notions of relative closeness and closeness of points.
Trivial topologyIn topology, a topological space with the trivial topology is one where the only open sets are the empty set and the entire space. Such spaces are commonly called indiscrete, anti-discrete, concrete or codiscrete. Intuitively, this has the consequence that all points of the space are "lumped together" and cannot be distinguished by topological means. Every indiscrete space is a pseudometric space in which the distance between any two points is zero.
Subnet (mathematics)In topology and related areas of mathematics, a subnet is a generalization of the concept of subsequence to the case of nets. The analogue of "subsequence" for nets is the notion of a "subnet". The definition is not completely straightforward, but is designed to allow as many theorems about subsequences to generalize to nets as possible. There are three non-equivalent definitions of "subnet". The first definition of a subnet was introduced by John L.
Base (topology)In mathematics, a base (or basis; : bases) for the topology τ of a topological space (X, τ) is a family of open subsets of X such that every open set of the topology is equal to the union of some sub-family of . For example, the set of all open intervals in the real number line is a basis for the Euclidean topology on because every open interval is an open set, and also every open subset of can be written as a union of some family of open intervals. Bases are ubiquitous throughout topology.
Net (mathematics)In mathematics, more specifically in general topology and related branches, a net or Moore–Smith sequence is a generalization of the notion of a sequence. In essence, a sequence is a function whose domain is the natural numbers. The codomain of this function is usually some topological space. The motivation for generalizing the notion of a sequence is that, in the context of topology, sequences do not fully encode all information about functions between topological spaces.
Finite intersection propertyIn general topology, a branch of mathematics, a non-empty family A of subsets of a set is said to have the finite intersection property (FIP) if the intersection over any finite subcollection of is non-empty. It has the strong finite intersection property (SFIP) if the intersection over any finite subcollection of is infinite. Sets with the finite intersection property are also called centered systems and filter subbases. The finite intersection property can be used to reformulate topological compactness in terms of closed sets; this is its most prominent application.
Sequential spaceIn topology and related fields of mathematics, a sequential space is a topological space whose topology can be completely characterized by its convergent/divergent sequences. They can be thought of as spaces that satisfy a very weak axiom of countability, and all first-countable spaces (especially metric spaces) are sequential. In any topological space if a convergent sequence is contained in a closed set then the limit of that sequence must be contained in as well. This property is known as sequential closure.
Comparison of topologiesIn topology and related areas of mathematics, the set of all possible topologies on a given set forms a partially ordered set. This order relation can be used for comparison of the topologies. A topology on a set may be defined as the collection of subsets which are considered to be "open". An alternative definition is that it is the collection of subsets which are considered "closed". These two ways of defining the topology are essentially equivalent because the complement of an open set is closed and vice versa.
Locally compact spaceIn topology and related branches of mathematics, a topological space is called locally compact if, roughly speaking, each small portion of the space looks like a small portion of a compact space. More precisely, it is a topological space in which every point has a compact neighborhood. In mathematical analysis locally compact spaces that are Hausdorff are of particular interest; they are abbreviated as LCH spaces. Let X be a topological space. Most commonly X is called locally compact if every point x of X has a compact neighbourhood, i.
Order topologyIn mathematics, an order topology is a certain topology that can be defined on any totally ordered set. It is a natural generalization of the topology of the real numbers to arbitrary totally ordered sets. If X is a totally ordered set, the order topology on X is generated by the subbase of "open rays" for all a, b in X. Provided X has at least two elements, this is equivalent to saying that the open intervals together with the above rays form a base for the order topology.
Directed setIn mathematics, a directed set (or a directed preorder or a filtered set) is a nonempty set together with a reflexive and transitive binary relation (that is, a preorder), with the additional property that every pair of elements has an upper bound. In other words, for any and in there must exist in with and A directed set's preorder is called a direction. The notion defined above is sometimes called an . A is defined analogously, meaning that every pair of elements is bounded below.
Topological indistinguishabilityIn topology, two points of a topological space X are topologically indistinguishable if they have exactly the same neighborhoods. That is, if x and y are points in X, and Nx is the set of all neighborhoods that contain x, and Ny is the set of all neighborhoods that contain y, then x and y are "topologically indistinguishable" if and only if Nx = Ny. (See Hausdorff's axiomatic .) Intuitively, two points are topologically indistinguishable if the topology of X is unable to discern between the points.
Norm (mathematics)In mathematics, a norm is a function from a real or complex vector space to the non-negative real numbers that behaves in certain ways like the distance from the origin: it commutes with scaling, obeys a form of the triangle inequality, and is zero only at the origin. In particular, the Euclidean distance in a Euclidean space is defined by a norm on the associated Euclidean vector space, called the Euclidean norm, the 2-norm, or, sometimes, the magnitude of the vector.
Normed vector spaceIn mathematics, a normed vector space or normed space is a vector space over the real or complex numbers on which a norm is defined. A norm is a generalization of the intuitive notion of "length" in the physical world. If is a vector space over , where is a field equal to or to , then a norm on is a map , typically denoted by , satisfying the following four axioms: Non-negativity: for every ,. Positive definiteness: for every , if and only if is the zero vector.
Second-countable spaceIn topology, a second-countable space, also called a completely separable space, is a topological space whose topology has a countable base. More explicitly, a topological space is second-countable if there exists some countable collection of open subsets of such that any open subset of can be written as a union of elements of some subfamily of . A second-countable space is said to satisfy the second axiom of countability. Like other countability axioms, the property of being second-countable restricts the number of open sets that a space can have.
Cauchy sequenceIn mathematics, a Cauchy sequence, named after Augustin-Louis Cauchy, is a sequence whose elements become arbitrarily close to each other as the sequence progresses. More precisely, given any small positive distance, all but a finite number of elements of the sequence are less than that given distance from each other. It is not sufficient for each term to become arbitrarily close to the term. For instance, in the sequence of square roots of natural numbers: the consecutive terms become arbitrarily close to each other – their differences tend to zero as the index n grows.