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A CW approximation of a space $X$ is a CW complex $X_{\mathrm{cw}}$ with a weak homotopy equivalence $X_{\mathrm{cw}}\to X$. The realization of the singular simplicial set of $X$ supplies one functorially.

A CW pair consists of a CW complex $X$ and a subcomplex $A$. Its inclusion is a cofibration, so homotopies on $A$ extend across $X$. The relative lifting property of a Serre fibration for such pairs allows specified boundary lifts to be retained while lifting a homotopy.

A CW subcomplex is a union of cells of a CW complex containing the attaching boundary of every included cell. In a combinatorial 2-complex, including a two-cell therefore includes every edge in its boundary. A connected CW subcomplex has a connected 1-skeleton, whose intrinsic path metric may differ from the ambient graph metric.

A map from the $n$-sphere to a CW complex can be homotoped into its $n$-skeleton. By compact subsets of CW complexes lie in finite subcomplexes, its image lies in a finite subcomplex. For a top-dimensional cell of dimension $d>n$, use smooth approximation of maps into Euclidean space in its interior, with a cutoff supported away from the cell boundary. The Sard theorem supplies a point in a smaller interior ball omitted by the smoothed map; the cutoff is chosen so the transition region also avoids that point. Radial retraction from the omitted point pushes the image into the cell boundary and fixes all other cells. Repeating over the finitely many higher-dimensional cells proves the assertion, without assuming the initial continuous image has measure zero.

Suppose a compact skeleton $Y$ embeds as $e(Y)\subset {\mathbb{R}}^m$. Attach a disk by $a:S^{k-1}\to Y$ and extend its boundary coordinate map radially by $G(ru)=re(a(u))$. Map the disk to $(G(x),(1-|x|)x,1-|x|)$ and $Y$ to $(e(y),0,0)$. The boundary identifications agree; a positive last coordinate recovers each interior point. This defines a continuous injection of the compact quotient into Euclidean space, hence an embedding. Repeating proves Hausdorffness and Euclidean embeddability for every finite CW complex, without assuming triangulability of arbitrary attaching maps.

The Euler characteristic compresses a finite CW complex's homology into one integer: count its topological cells with alternating signs, or count its Betti numbers with the same signs. A filled triangle has Euler characteristic one; its cycle graph boundary has Euler characteristic zero. The missing face changes the answer even though the vertices and edges are identical.

For a finite CW complex $X$, including the geometric realization of a finite simplicial complex,Here $b_i={\dim }_{\mathbb{Q}}{H}_i(X;\mathbb{Q})$ is the rational Betti number. More generally this ordinary homology definition makes sense whenever every rational homology group is finite-dimensional and only finitely many are nonzero. An arbitrary infinite CW complex need not satisfy these assumptions; its formal infinite alternating cell count is not a definition of this invariant.

For a finite CW complex, $b_0$ counts connected components: its connected components are its path components, as recorded by the zeroth homology group. For a finite graph regarded as a one-dimensional CW complex, no higher homology groups occur, so $b_1=E-V+b_0$ counts independent graph cycles, and $\chi =b_0-b_1$. For a connected planar surface obtained by removing $h$ disjoint open disks from the interior of a closed disk, $(b_0,b_1,b_2)=(1,h,0)$ and $\chi =1-h$; the annulus is $h=1$.

The word "hole" needs its dimension. A two-sphere encloses a cavity but has $b_1=0$ and $b_2=1$. A closed orientable surface of genus $g$ instead has $(b_0,b_1,b_2)=(1,2g,1)$ and $\chi =2-2g$: increasing the genus by one adds two independent one-dimensional homology classes. In higher dimensions, further homology groups enter with alternating signs; there is no universal "components minus handles" rule.

A fibration is a map with the homotopy lifting property. A Hurewicz fibration has this property for every source space; a Serre fibration requires it for CW complexes. Replacing a map by a fibration gives a model for its homotopy fiber sequence.

A finite CW complex has finitely many cells. Its cellular chain complex consists of finitely generated free abelian groups and vanishes outside finitely many degrees, so its integral homology groups are finitely generated.

Write the suspension of an $(n-2)$-connected based CW complex as two cones meeting in the original space. Each cone pair is $(n-1)$-connected because its relative groups shift the original homotopy groups by one. Homotopy excision theorem compares the cone pair with the suspension relative to the other cone, giving the suspension homomorphism as an isomorphism for $i<2n-2$ and a surjection at $i=2n-2$ in the indexing ${\pi }_{i-1}X\to {\pi }_i\Sigma X$.

If $X$ is an $(n-1)$-connected based CW complex, $n\ge 2$, suspension induces an isomorphism ${\pi }_k(X)\to {\pi }_{k+1}(\Sigma X)$ for $k\le 2n-2$ and a surjection for $k=2n-1$. For a sphere, $\Sigma S^n\cong S^{n+1}$, giving the stable range ${\pi }_k(S^n)\cong {\pi }_{k+1}(S^{n+1})$.

A topological graph is a CW complex with only zero-cells and one-cells, called vertices and edges. Edge endpoints attach to vertices; loops, multiple edges and infinitely many edges are allowed. A subgraph in this setting is a CW subcomplex. A connected acyclic graph is a tree and is a contractible space.

The Hawaiian earring is the union of a countable family of circles tangent at one point, with their radii tending to zero, endowed with its planar subspace topology. Equivalently it is the one-point compactification of a countable disjoint union of real lines. Every neighbourhood of the common point contains all but finitely many whole circles. This compact topological space is not locally contractible there and has different singular homology from the infinite CW complex wedge of circles.

An H-space whose multiplication is homotopy associative and admits a homotopy inverse. These operations give $[X,Y{]}_{\ast }$ a group structure for every based CW complex $X$. A loop space is the basic example: concatenate paths, use reversal for inversion, and use reparametrization for homotopy associativity. A bare H-space should not automatically be treated as a group object.

The skeletal filtration of a CW complex and the cofiber sequences of spectra of its cell attachments produceFor a connective spectrum it is first quadrant and converges in each fixed total degree. Its reduced version has no contribution from the basepoint summand.

An integral homology equivalence between simply connected spaces is a weak homotopy equivalence. A first nonzero relative homotopy group would contradict the Relative Hurewicz theorem. Between CW complexes the ordinary Whitehead theorem then gives a homotopy equivalence.

Glue the boundary of a Möbius band to the projective line in the real projective plane by a mapping degree $n$. The band is the mapping cylinder of the degree-two boundary covering of its core. Collapsing the connecting tree in the resulting double mapping cylinder gives a CW complex with one vertex, edges $a,b$, and two attaching words $a^2$ and $a^{-n}{b}^2$. Its cellular chain complex has degree-two boundary matrix $\left(\begin{array}{cc}2& -n\\ 0& 2\end{array}\right)$. Its determinant is four, so $H_2=0$. The Smith normal form gives $H_1\cong \mathbb{Z}/4$ for odd $n$ and $(\mathbb{Z}/2{)}^2$ for even $n$; $H_0=\mathbb{Z}$ and higher homology vanishes. The space cannot be homotopy equivalent to a closed manifold: mod-two homology forces a potential manifold to be a surface, and its Euler characteristic is one, whereas the only such closed connected surface is the projective plane, with different integral $H_1$.