Algebraic Topology [Paperback]

This book surveys the fundamental ideas of algebraic topology. The first part covers the fundamental group, its definition and application in the study of covering spaces. The second part turns to homology theory including cohomology, cup products, cohomology operations and topological manifolds. The final part is devoted to Homotropy theory, including basic facts about homotropy groups and applications to obstruction theory.

Intended for use both as a text and a reference, this book is an exposition of the fundamental ideas of algebraic topology. The first third of the book covers the fundamental group, its definition and its application in the study of covering spaces. The focus then turns to homology theory, including cohomology, cup products, cohomology operations, and topological manifolds. The remaining third of the book is devoted to Homotropy theory, covering basic facts about homotropy groups, applications to obstruction theory, and computations of homotropy groups of spheres. In the later parts, the main emphasis is on the application to geometry of the algebraic tools developed earlier.1 Set theory.- 2 General topology.- 3 Group theory.- 4 Modules.- 5 Euclidean spaces.- 1 Homotopy and The Fundamental Group.- 1 Categories.- 2 Functors.- 3 Homotopy.- 4 Retraction and deformation.- 5 H spaces.- 6 Suspension.- 7 The fundamental groupoid.- 8 The fundamental group.- Exercises.- 2 Covering Spaces and Fibrations.- 1 Covering projections.- 2 The homotopy lifting property.- 3 Relations with the fundamental group.- 4 The lifting problem.- 5 The classification of covering projections.- 6 Covering transformations.- 7 Fiber bundles.- 8 Fibrations.- Exercises.- 3 Polyhedra.- 1 Simplicial complexes.- 2 Linearity in simplicial complexes.- 3 Subdivision.- 4 Simplicial approximation.- 5 Contiguity classes.- 6 The edge-path groupoid.- 7 Graphs.- 8 Examples and applications.- Exercises.- 4 Homology.- 1 Chain complexes.- 2 Chain homotopy.- 3 The homology of slã7