homeomorphic on:  
[Wikipedia]  
[Google]  
[Amazon]
In
mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
and more specifically in
topology
Topology (from the Greek language, Greek words , and ) is the branch of mathematics concerned with the properties of a Mathematical object, geometric object that are preserved under Continuous function, continuous Deformation theory, deformat ...
, a homeomorphism (
from Greek roots meaning "similar shape", named by
Henri Poincaré
Jules Henri Poincaré (, ; ; 29 April 185417 July 1912) was a French mathematician, Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist, engineer, and philosophy of science, philosopher of science. He is often described as a polymath, and in mathemati ...
), also called topological isomorphism, or bicontinuous function, is a
bijective
In mathematics, a bijection, bijective function, or one-to-one correspondence is a function between two sets such that each element of the second set (the codomain) is the image of exactly one element of the first set (the domain). Equival ...
and
continuous function
In mathematics, a continuous function is a function such that a small variation of the argument induces a small variation of the value of the function. This implies there are no abrupt changes in value, known as '' discontinuities''. More preci ...
between
topological space
In mathematics, a topological space is, roughly speaking, a Geometry, geometrical space in which Closeness (mathematics), closeness is defined but cannot necessarily be measured by a numeric Distance (mathematics), distance. More specifically, a to ...
s that has a continuous
inverse function
In mathematics, the inverse function of a function (also called the inverse of ) is a function that undoes the operation of . The inverse of exists if and only if is bijective, and if it exists, is denoted by f^ .
For a function f\colon ...
. Homeomorphisms are the
isomorphism
In mathematics, an isomorphism is a structure-preserving mapping or morphism between two structures of the same type that can be reversed by an inverse mapping. Two mathematical structures are isomorphic if an isomorphism exists between the ...
s in the
category of topological spaces—that is, they are the
mappings that preserve all the
topological properties of a given space. Two spaces with a homeomorphism between them are called homeomorphic, and from a topological viewpoint they are the same.
Very roughly speaking, a topological space is a
geometric object, and a homeomorphism results from a continuous deformation of the object into a new shape. Thus, a
square
In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...
and a
circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all point (geometry), points in a plane (mathematics), plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the Centre (geometry), centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is cal ...
are homeomorphic to each other, but a
sphere
A sphere (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ) is a surface (mathematics), surface analogous to the circle, a curve. In solid geometry, a sphere is the Locus (mathematics), set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three ...
and a
torus
In geometry, a torus (: tori or toruses) is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three-dimensional space one full revolution about an axis that is coplanarity, coplanar with the circle. The main types of toruses inclu ...
are not. However, this description can be misleading. Some continuous deformations do not produce homeomorphisms, such as the deformation of a line into a point. Some homeomorphisms do not result from continuous deformations, such as the homeomorphism between a
trefoil knot and a circle.
Homotopy
In topology, two continuous functions from one topological space to another are called homotopic (from and ) if one can be "continuously deformed" into the other, such a deformation being called a homotopy ( ; ) between the two functions. ...
and
isotopy are precise definitions for the informal concept of ''continuous deformation''.
Definition
A
function between two
topological space
In mathematics, a topological space is, roughly speaking, a Geometry, geometrical space in which Closeness (mathematics), closeness is defined but cannot necessarily be measured by a numeric Distance (mathematics), distance. More specifically, a to ...
s is a homeomorphism if it has the following properties:
*
is a
bijection
In mathematics, a bijection, bijective function, or one-to-one correspondence is a function between two sets such that each element of the second set (the codomain) is the image of exactly one element of the first set (the domain). Equival ...
(
one-to-one and
onto
In mathematics, a surjective function (also known as surjection, or onto function ) is a function such that, for every element of the function's codomain, there exists one element in the function's domain such that . In other words, for a f ...
),
*
is
continuous,
* the
inverse function
In mathematics, the inverse function of a function (also called the inverse of ) is a function that undoes the operation of . The inverse of exists if and only if is bijective, and if it exists, is denoted by f^ .
For a function f\colon ...
is continuous (
is an
open mapping
In mathematics, more specifically in topology, an open map is a function (mathematics), function between two topological spaces that maps open sets to open sets.
That is, a function f : X \to Y is open if for any open set U in X, the Image (mathem ...
).
A homeomorphism is sometimes called a ''bicontinuous'' function. If such a function exists,
and
are homeomorphic. A self-homeomorphism is a homeomorphism from a topological space onto itself. Being "homeomorphic" is an
equivalence relation on topological spaces. Its
equivalence classes are called homeomorphism classes.
The third requirement, that
be
continuous, is essential. Consider for instance the function
(the unit circle in ) defined by
This function is bijective and continuous, but not a homeomorphism (
is
compact
Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to:
* Interstate compact, a type of agreement used by U.S. states
* Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines
* Compact government, a t ...
but
is not). The function
is not continuous at the point
because although
maps
to
any
neighbourhood
A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...
of this point also includes points that the function maps close to
but the points it maps to numbers in between lie outside the neighbourhood.
Homeomorphisms are the
isomorphism
In mathematics, an isomorphism is a structure-preserving mapping or morphism between two structures of the same type that can be reversed by an inverse mapping. Two mathematical structures are isomorphic if an isomorphism exists between the ...
s in the
category of topological spaces. As such, the composition of two homeomorphisms is again a homeomorphism, and the set of all self-homeomorphisms
forms a
group, called the homeomorphism group">group (mathematics)">group, called the homeomorphism group of ''X'', often denoted
This group can be given a topology, such as the compact-open topology, which under certain assumptions makes it a
topological group
In mathematics, topological groups are the combination of groups and topological spaces, i.e. they are groups and topological spaces at the same time, such that the continuity condition for the group operations connects these two structures ...
.
In some contexts, there are homeomorphic objects that cannot be continuously deformed from one to the other.
Homotopy
In topology, two continuous functions from one topological space to another are called homotopic (from and ) if one can be "continuously deformed" into the other, such a deformation being called a homotopy ( ; ) between the two functions. ...
and
isotopy are equivalence relations that have been introduced for dealing with such situations.
Similarly, as usual in category theory, given two spaces that are homeomorphic, the space of homeomorphisms between them,
is a
torsor for the homeomorphism groups
and
and, given a specific homeomorphism between
and
all three sets are identified.
Examples
* The open
interval is homeomorphic to the
real number
In mathematics, a real number is a number that can be used to measure a continuous one- dimensional quantity such as a duration or temperature. Here, ''continuous'' means that pairs of values can have arbitrarily small differences. Every re ...
s for any
(In this case, a bicontinuous forward mapping is given by
while other such mappings are given by scaled and translated versions of the or functions).
* The unit 2-
disc and the
unit square
In mathematics, a unit square is a square whose sides have length . Often, ''the'' unit square refers specifically to the square in the Cartesian plane with corners at the four points ), , , and .
Cartesian coordinates
In a Cartesian coordinat ...
in are homeomorphic; since the unit disc can be deformed into the unit square. An example of a bicontinuous mapping from the square to the disc is, in
polar coordinates
In mathematics, the polar coordinate system specifies a given point (mathematics), point in a plane (mathematics), plane by using a distance and an angle as its two coordinate system, coordinates. These are
*the point's distance from a reference ...
,
* The
graph of a
differentiable function is homeomorphic to the
domain of the function.
* A differentiable
parametrization of a
curve
In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line, but that does not have to be straight.
Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point. This is the definition that ...
is a homeomorphism between the domain of the parametrization and the curve.
* A
chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...
of a
manifold
In mathematics, a manifold is a topological space that locally resembles Euclidean space near each point. More precisely, an n-dimensional manifold, or ''n-manifold'' for short, is a topological space with the property that each point has a N ...
is a homeomorphism between an
open subset of the manifold and an open subset of a
Euclidean space
Euclidean space is the fundamental space of geometry, intended to represent physical space. Originally, in Euclid's ''Elements'', it was the three-dimensional space of Euclidean geometry, but in modern mathematics there are ''Euclidean spaces ...
.
* The
stereographic projection
In mathematics, a stereographic projection is a perspective transform, perspective projection of the sphere, through a specific point (geometry), point on the sphere (the ''pole'' or ''center of projection''), onto a plane (geometry), plane (th ...
is a homeomorphism between the unit sphere in with a single point removed and the set of all points in (a 2-dimensional
plane).
* If
is a
topological group
In mathematics, topological groups are the combination of groups and topological spaces, i.e. they are groups and topological spaces at the same time, such that the continuity condition for the group operations connects these two structures ...
, its inversion map
is a homeomorphism. Also, for any
the left translation
the right translation
and the inner automorphism
are homeomorphisms.
Counter-examples
* and are not homeomorphic for
* The Euclidean
real line
A number line is a graphical representation of a straight line that serves as spatial representation of numbers, usually graduated like a ruler with a particular origin (geometry), origin point representing the number zero and evenly spaced mark ...
is not homeomorphic to the unit circle as a subspace of , since the unit circle is
compact
Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to:
* Interstate compact, a type of agreement used by U.S. states
* Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines
* Compact government, a t ...
as a subspace of Euclidean but the real line is not compact.
*The one-dimensional intervals