Algebraic Topology: A First Course (Graduate Texts in Mathematics, 153) - Softcover

Fulton, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0387943277 ISBN 13: 9780387943275

Publisher: Springer, 1995

Synopsis

To the Teacher. This book is designed to introduce a student to some of the important ideas of algebraic topology by emphasizing the re­ lations of these ideas with other areas of mathematics. Rather than choosing one point of view of modem topology (homotopy theory, simplicial complexes, singular theory, axiomatic homology, differ­ ential topology, etc.), we concentrate our attention on concrete prob­ lems in low dimensions, introducing only as much algebraic machin­ ery as necessary for the problems we meet. This makes it possible to see a wider variety of important features of the subject than is usual in a beginning text. The book is designed for students of mathematics or science who are not aiming to become practicing algebraic topol­ ogists-without, we hope, discouraging budding topologists. We also feel that this approach is in better harmony with the historical devel­ opment of the subject. What would we like a student to know after a first course in to­ pology (assuming we reject the answer: half of what one would like the student to know after a second course in topology)? Our answers to this have guided the choice of material, which includes: under­ standing the relation between homology and integration, first on plane domains, later on Riemann surfaces and in higher dimensions; wind­ ing numbers and degrees of mappings, fixed-point theorems; appli­ cations such as the Jordan curve theorem, invariance of domain; in­ dices of vector fields and Euler characteristics; fundamental groups

About this title

Review

W. Fulton

Algebraic Topology

A First Course

"Fulton has done genuine service for the mathematical community by writing a text on algebraic topology which is genuinely different from the existing texts. Each time a text such as this is published we more truly have a real choice when we pick a book for a course or for self-study. The author, who is an expert in algebraic geometry, has given us his own personal idiosyncratic vision of how the subject should be developed."AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL MONTHLY

W. Fulton

Algebraic Topology

A First Course

"Fulton has done genuine service for the mathematical community by writing a text on algebraic topology which is genuinely different from the existing texts. Each time a text such as this is published we more truly have a real choice when we pick a book for a course or for self-study. The author, who is an expert in algebraic geometry, has given us his own personal idiosyncratic vision of how the subject should be developed."???AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL MONTHLY

W. Fulton

Algebraic Topology

A First Course

"Fulton has done genuine service for the mathematical community by writing a text on algebraic topology which is genuinely different from the existing texts. Each time a text such as this is published we more truly have a real choice when we pick a book for a course or for self-study. The author, who is an expert in algebraic geometry, has given us his own personal idiosyncratic vision of how the subject should be developed."a "AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL MONTHLY

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0387943277
• ISBN 13: 9780387943275
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 448