A User's Guide to Algebraic Topology: 387 (Mathematics and Its Applications, 387)

Product Description

We have tried to design this book for both instructional and reference use, during and after a first course in algebraic topology aimed at users rather than developers; indeed, the book arose from such courses taught by the authors. We start gently, with numerous pictures to illustrate the fundamental ideas and constructions in homotopy theory that are needed in later chapters. A certain amount of redundancy is built in for the reader's convenience: we hope to minimize :fiipping back and forth, and we have provided some appendices for reference. The first three are concerned with background material in algebra, general topology, manifolds, geometry and bundles. Another gives tables of homo­…