Topics (384k) Articles (398k) Users (410) Discussions (242) Comments (383) Files (13k) New article
Past exam of the topology course of the University of Oxford 2021 3 a ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Let be the common point of the two circles. For sufficiently small , the open neighbourhoodhas the following local structure: consists of four disjoint open arcs, an upper and a lower branch from each circle. These are its four connected components, each open and closed relative to .
Suppose a coordinate chart of some dimension of a manifold existed at . The case would make an isolated point, which it is not. For , shrink the chart inside so that its image is an open ball centred at the image of . Its domain of a function is an open neighbourhood of , so it meets all four arms of . Intersecting those arms with gives four disjoint nonempty clopen sets partitioning ; hence there are at least four connected components.
But a punctured ball in has exactly two connected components, and a punctured ball in for is path-connected. A homeomorphism preserves connected components, giving a contradiction in every dimension of a manifold. Thus is not a topological manifold. The argument uses arbitrarily small coordinate charts; the fact that the whole has two pieces alone would not be a local obstruction.
Past exam of the topology course of the University of Oxford 2021 3 a i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
The unit circle is Hausdorff and second countable, since both properties pass to topological subspaces of the Euclidean plane. To exhibit its local coordinate charts, consider the four open semicirclesThey cover . On , the projection map is a homeomorphism onto the open interval , with continuous inverse functionOn , use , with inverse function . These coordinate charts show that is a one-dimensional topological manifold with empty manifold boundary.
Past exam of the topology course of the University of Oxford 2021 2 d ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Let , and choose in each circle the point opposite :In the subspace topology from the Euclidean plane, the sequence converges to , which does not belong to . Thus is not closed in .
On the other hand, let . With the quotient map from part (i),This is closed in : its complement is the open set . The definition of the quotient topology, applied to complements, says that is closed in . A homeomorphism would carry this closed set to the closed set , a contradiction. Therefore is not a homeomorphism.
The obstruction occurs at the common point. The open set contains the collapsed point, but its image contains no neighbourhood of , since . The wedge sum topology allows a separate small neighbourhood on each circle; a neighbourhood of in the Hawaiian earring must contain all sufficiently small whole circles.
Past exam of the topology course of the University of Oxford 2021 2 d i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Use positive indices and write . SetFor fixed , this function is a homeomorphism from the unit circle to : it scales its radius to and translates its centre to . Thus it takes values in the Hawaiian earring and is surjective onto . It is continuous on each open slice ; since these slices form an open cover of , is continuous on the whole product topology.
Distinct circles meet only at . To see this directly, their equations areFor , subtraction gives , then . Each slice contains exactly one preimage of , namely . Therefore the only nonsingleton fibre of is .
Let be the quotient map collapsing . The universal property of the quotient topology supplies a unique continuous map with . The fibre calculation proves injectivity, and surjectivity follows from that of . Hence is the required continuous bijection.
Past exam of the topology course of the University of Oxford 2021 2 b ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
False, with “disjoint union” understood as a topological disjoint union. Take the rational numbers with the usual subspace topology from the real line.
Every connected subset of has at most one point. Indeed, if it contained , choose an irrational number . The two relatively open setspartition and separate any subset containing both and . Hence the connected components of are singletons.
If a topological disjoint union of nonempty connected spaces were homeomorphic to , the image of each summand would be connected, hence a singleton. Every summand would therefore be a one-point topological space. Their topological disjoint union is a discrete space, since each summand is open. But is not a discrete space: for each , the distinct rational numbers approach , so is not an isolated point. This is a contradiction. The set decomposition into connected components always exists; giving those pieces the topological disjoint union topology need not recover the original topology.
Past exam of the topology course of the University of Oxford 2021 2 b i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
The sphere is path-connected. For which are not an antipodal pair, a continuous path isThe denominator never vanishes: a zero would make and antipodal. If , choose a unit vector perpendicular to and concatenate the paths from to and from to of the same form. Thus is connected. The quotient map is continuous and surjective, so the continuous image of a connected space theorem proves that is connected. In fact composing the paths above with also proves path connectedness.
Past exam of the topology course of the University of Oxford 2021 2 a ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Let and be the quotient maps. The continuous mapis a homeomorphism onto the upper hemisphere; its inverse function is the restriction of the projection map . Every antipodal pair on meets that hemisphere. Moreover, two points of this hemisphere are antipodal only if both lie on the equator. ThusBy the universal property of the quotient topology, induces a continuous bijection
To justify continuity of the inverse function, the source is compact, being a continuous image of a compact space ; the Heine-Borel theorem gives compactness of . The target is Hausdorff, as follows. For distinct equivalence classes , putIn , take the union of the two relative open balls of radius about , and similarly take about . Every distance between their respective centres is at least , so the triangle inequality gives . These open sets contain entire antipodal pairs, hence and similarly for . The quotient topology therefore makes and disjoint open neighbourhoods of the two classes.
Past exam of the topology course of the University of Oxford 2021 2 a i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
For the sphere model of the real projective plane, letThen with the quotient topology: each equivalence class is an antipodal pair.
For the closed disc model, letGive the quotient topology. Only antipodal pairs on the boundary circle are identified in the closed disc model; interior points remain distinct.
Past exam of the topology course of the University of Oxford 2021 1 f ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
TakeIt is continuous for the Euclidean metric, since . But the basic open set of the target Sorgenfrey line has preimageThis is not open in the source Sorgenfrey line: every basic neighbourhood of contains positive points. Thus is not continuous for the lower limit topology.
Past exam of the topology course of the University of Oxford 2021 1 f i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Use the Heaviside step function with the value at the jump chosen as follows:For any open set in the target Sorgenfrey line, its preimage is one of , , , and . All four are open in the source Sorgenfrey line, so is continuous. In the Euclidean topology, the preimage of is , which is not open. Hence the same function is not continuous as a usual real-to-real map.
Past exam of the topology course of the University of Oxford 2021 1 e ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
does not have sequential compactness. Take the sequenceEvery subsequence has usual limit of a sequence . If a subsequence converged in the subspace topology of the Sorgenfrey line, it would also converge in the usual subspace topology, since part (c) makes the identity function from the former to the latter continuous. Uniqueness of a limit of a sequence in the usual Hausdorff space therefore forces that limit of a sequence to be .
But is an open neighbourhood of in , and no term belongs to it. Thus no subsequence converges to in , proving the assertion.
Past exam of the topology course of the University of Oxford 2021 1 e i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
is not compact. In the subspace topology on , consider the open coverThe intervals are basic open sets in the ambient Sorgenfrey line, and is open in . Every belongs to one of those intervals, while the singleton covers .
A finite subcover would have to include . Among its finitely many other members, let be the largest index. Their union is , leaving uncovered. Selecting no such member also fails to cover . Hence no finite subcover exists.
Past exam of the topology course of the University of Oxford 2021 1 b iv Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
The only isolated point of the subset is . Indeed,so is open in the subspace topology. If , every basic neighbourhood containing also contains a point strictly between and , hence another point of . Such an is not an isolated point of the subset. Here isolation refers to with its subspace topology; is not an isolated point of the ambient Sorgenfrey line.
Past exam of the topology course of the University of Oxford 2021 1 b ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
No, is not open. Every basic neighbourhood of has , so it contains points larger than . Therefore has no open neighbourhood contained in .
Past exam of the topology course of the University of Oxford 2021 1 b i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Yes, is closed. Its complement is . Every has the basic open neighbourhood contained in this complement, and every has contained in it. Hence the complement is open in .
Past exam of the topology and groups course of the University of Oxford 2023 3 b iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Assume has a common finite degree of a covering map . Declare the lifted vertices to be , so there are exactly of them. Each open edge is homeomorphic to , a simply connected interval. The restriction of the covering map above it is a disjoint union of copies of that open edge.
These copies acquire endpoints as follows. Lift the parametrizing path of each oriented edge, starting at each of the points over its initial vertex. The path lifting theorem gives a unique lift all the way to . Its endpoint lies over the terminal vertex, and the interiors of these lifted paths are exactly the open edges already described. This also handles a graph loop, whose two endpoints may coincide downstairs or upstairs. Local covering sheets above a small star at a vertex show that the lifted incidence relations have precisely the original topology. Thus the graph structure lifted through a covering map is a finite topological graph withSubtracting gives the Euler characteristic under a finite covering formulaThe formula holds even when is disconnected. If a disconnected base is allowed to have degrees that vary with its connected components , the precise replacement isThe printed formula with a single uses the constant-degree convention explained in part (a)(ii).
Past exam of the topology and groups course of the University of Oxford 2023 3 b ii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Choose a spanning tree of the finite connected graph . It contains every vertex of and has edges by part (i). Collapsing to a point is a homotopy equivalence: is a contractible subcomplex, and collapsing a contractible cofibration in a CW complex preserves homotopy type.
Every edge outside then becomes a circle attached to the common point. Hence the quotient space is a bouquet of circles withpetals. The fundamental group of a bouquet of circles is the free group with one member of a free basis of a group for each petal. Therefore the rank of the fundamental group of a finite connected graph isMore concretely, choose a vertex as base point; follow the unique path in a graph in to one end of a non-tree edge, traverse it, and return through . These based loops give the free basis of a group. Thus is the number of free group generators, equivalently the minimum size of a generating set of a group, rather than the size of every possible redundant generating set of a group. Minimality also follows by abelianization, since has abelianization .
Past exam of the topology and groups course of the University of Oxford 2023 3 b i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
A finite tree is a nonempty connected graph with no graph cycles. We show by mathematical induction on its number of vertices that it has edges. For there are no edges, so the assertion holds.
If , take a path in a graph of maximal length among those without repeated vertices. Each endpoint is a leaf of a tree: an additional incident edge would either extend the path in a graph or create a graph cycle. Delete one such leaf of a tree and its unique incident edge. The remaining graph stays connected, since a path in a graph between remaining vertices never needs that terminal edge, and it has no graph cycles. It is therefore a tree with vertices and, by mathematical induction, edges. Restoring the deleted edge gives .
Thus its Euler characteristic is
Past exam of the topology and groups course of the University of Oxford 2023 3 a iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
With local path connectedness, the intended conclusion holds. Choose a base point and the standard covering mapThe fundamental group of the circle is . Since the image of a finite group under a group homomorphism is finite and has no nontrivial finite subgroups,is trivial. If is also locally path-connected, the lifting criterion for a covering space supplies a continuous map with , because . The homotopyruns from to the constant function . This proves the claimed null-homotopy under that additional hypothesis, in particular for CW complexes and the topological graphs considered later in the paper.
For arbitrary path-connected spaces, the printed assertion is false. Here is an explicit Warsaw circle counterexample, including the obstruction that the usual lifting argument misses. In the Euclidean plane takeJoin to by the polygonal arc passing successively through , and put with its subspace topology. The arc meets only at . The topologist's sine curve has two path components, but the added arc joins them, making path-connected.
Every loop in is contained infor some . To justify the assertion, a path cannot reach along the oscillating tail: the intermediate value theorem for its -coordinate would force its -coordinate to attain both and arbitrarily close to the supposed arrival time, contradicting continuity. The only alternative route from the tail to uses and the joining arc. If a loop visited tail points with , a convergent subsequence of their parameter values would approach a time at which the loop lies in . On a sufficiently small parameter interval around that time its image avoids . That would give a forbidden path from into the tail without passing through . Thus those tail coordinates have a positive lower bound. The space is a finite tree, in fact a single arc, so every such loop contracts. ConsequentlyNow define a continuous map to be on , and to make one full turn on : for a parametrization from to , set . The pieces and are closed in , and the formulas agree at , so the pasting lemma for closed subspaces proves continuity.
There is no continuous lift . Any such lift is integer-valued on , so it is constant on each of the connected spaces . Since accumulates on , continuity forces those two constants to be the same. But along a lift of has the form , giving values at and differing by , a contradiction. Finally, if had a null-homotopy, the homotopy lifting theorem for a covering map, starting with a lift of the final constant function and reversing time, would produce a continuous lift of . This theorem needs no local path connectedness of the parameter space. Hence is not null-homotopic, although has finite, indeed trivial, fundamental group.
The native PDF explicitly assumes only path connectedness here. The missing local path connectedness cannot be inferred from the finiteness of the fundamental group.
Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project
Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
Intro to OurBigBook
. Source. We have two killer features:
- topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculusArticles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
- a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
- a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.Figure 1. Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page. View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivativeVideo 2. OurBigBook Web topics demo. Source. - local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
- to OurBigBook.com to get awesome multi-user features like topics and likes
- as HTML files to a static website, which you can host yourself for free on many external providers like GitHub Pages, and remain in full control
Figure 2. You can publish local OurBigBook lightweight markup files to either OurBigBook.com or as a static website.Figure 3. Visual Studio Code extension installation.Figure 5. . You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally. Video 3. Edit locally and publish demo. Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension. - Infinitely deep tables of contents:
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact





