Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Topology From Analysis, Nicholas A. Scoville

Topology

Topology is often described as having no notion of distance, but a notion of nearness. How can such a thing be possible? Isn't this just a distinction without a difference? In this project, we will discover the notion of nearness without distance by studying the work of Georg Cantor and a problem he was investigating involving Fourier series. We will see that it is the relationship of points to each other, and not their distances per se, that is a proper view. We will see the roots of topology organically springing from analysis.