Differential Topology: An Introduction (Dover Books on Mathematics) - Softcover

Offering classroom-proven results, Differential Topology presents an introduction to point set topology via a naive version of nearness space. Its treatment encompasses a general study of surgery, laying a solid foundation for further study and greatly simplifying the classification of surfaces.
This self-contained treatment features 88 helpful illustrations. Its subjects include topological spaces and properties, some advanced calculus, differentiable manifolds, orientability, submanifolds and an embedding theorem, and tangent spaces. Additional topics comprise vector fields and integral curves, surgery, classification of orientable surfaces, and Whitney's embedding theorem. Suitable for advanced undergraduate courses in introductory or differential topology, this volume also serves as a supplementary text in advanced calculus and physics courses, as well as a key source of information for students of mechanics.