Topology

Boǧaziçi University, Math 471 (Fall 2013)

Lectures: Tues. 3:00-4:50 (New Hall 103) and Fri. 11:00-12:50 (Perkins Hall 1100)

Instructor: William D. Gillam

E-mail: william.gillam@boun.edu.tr
Office: Anderson Hall (Faculty of Arts and Sciences) 210-B
Office hours: Tues. and Fri. 2:00-2:50 and by appointment

Text: Topology: Second Edition by James R. Munkres (Pearson/Prentice Hall). We will cover
the more difficult sections of Chapter 1, as well as Chapters 2-4 and the first part of Chapter 9,
together with additional topics according to time limits and student interests.
Course website: www.math.boun.edu.tr/courses (follow links to “Math 471 Topology”)
Course overview: This is a first course in topology intended for senior mathematics majors.
Although not strictly necessary, it is assumed that the student has studied real analysis. Students
are also assumed to have a certain degree of “mathematical maturity.” In particular, you should
be adept at writing careful, intelligible proofs.
We will begin by covering the basic notions of set theory, as in Chapter 1 of the text. For the
most part, you should read through this on your own. You should know what an equivalence
relation is and be familiar with basic set-theoretic operations (union, intersection, difference
of sets, etc.) and the notation(s) for these. In class we will cover countable and uncountable
sets, basic notions of ordered sets, the Axiom of Choice and its equivalent formulations (Zorn’s
Lemma, existence of well-orderings). In Chapters 2-4 we will cover the basic notions of general
topology: the definition of a topological space and a continuous function, basis for a topology,
“examples” of topological spaces (order topology, metric topology, finite topological spaces, etc.),
the product topology, the quotient topology, connectedness, compactness, local compactness,
the one-point compactification, criteria in terms of limits, countability and separation axioms,
Urysohn’s Lemma, Urysohn metrization theorem, and the Tietze Extension Theorem. After
this we will cover the first half of Chapter 9, which is a basic introduction to algebraic topology.
Topics include: basic notions of homotopy theory, the fundamental group, and the theory of
covering spaces.
As time permits, we may also cover some of the following additional topics: the Tychonoff
product theorem, the Stone-Čech compactification, the Jordan curve theorem, van Kampen’s
theorem, classification of surfaces, proper maps, noetherian topology, . . .
Homework: Weekly homework assignments can be obtained from the course website (above)
and will be collected in class. You should make an effort to solve all of the problems to the best
of your ability. Please refrain from writing nonsense if you have made no significant progress on
a problem. You may discuss the problems together, but each student should write his/her own
solution.
Grading: Grades will be based on homework (20%), two midterm exams (20% each), and a
final exam (40%).