Introduction To Differential Topology

This book is intended as an elementary introduction to differential manifolds. The authors concentrate on the intuitive geometric aspects and explain not only the basic properties but also teach how to do the basic geometrical constructions. An integral part of the work are the many diagrams which illustrate the proofs. The text is liberally supplied with exercises and will be welcomed by students with some basic knowledge of analysis and topology.

"A very valuable book. In little over 200 pages, it presents a well-organized and surprisingly comprehensive treatment of most of the basic material in differential topology, as far as is accessible without the methods of algebraic topology....There is an abundance of exercises, which supply many beautiful examples and much interesting additional information, and help the reader to become thoroughly familiar with the material of the main text." —MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS

Differential Topology provides an elementary and intuitive introduction to the study of smooth manifolds. In the years since its first publication, Guillemin and Pollack's book has become a standard text on the subject. It is a jewel of mathematical exposition, judiciously picking exactly the right mixture of detail and generality to display the richness within. The text is mostly self-contained, requiring only undergraduate analysis and linear algebra. By relying on a unifying idea--transversality--the authors are able to avoid the use of big machinery or ad hoc techniques to establish the main results. In this way, they present intelligent treatments of important theorems, such as the Lefschetz fixed-point theorem, the Poincaré-Hopf index theorem, and Stokes theorem. The book has a wealth of exercises of various types. Some are routine explorations of the main material. In others, the students are guided step-by-step through proofs of fundamental results, such as the Jordan-Brouwer separation theorem. An exercise section in Chapter 4 leads the student through a construction of de Rham cohomology and a proof of its homotopy invariance. The book is suitable for either an introductory graduate course or an advanced undergraduate course.

This elegant book by distinguished mathematician John Milnor, provides a clear and succinct introduction to one of the most important subjects in modern mathematics. Beginning with basic concepts such as diffeomorphisms and smooth manifolds, he goes on to examine tangent spaces, oriented manifolds, and vector fields. Key concepts such as homotopy, the index number of a map, and the Pontryagin construction are discussed. The author presents proofs of Sard's theorem and the Hopf theorem.

This text covers topological spaces and properties, some advanced calculus, differentiable manifolds, orientability, submanifolds and an embedding theorem, tangent spaces, vector fields and integral curves, Whitney's embedding theorem, more. Includes 88 helpful illustrations. 1982 edition.

Derived from the author's course on the subject, Elements of Differential Topology explores the vast and elegant theories in topology developed by Morse, Thom, Smale, Whitney, Milnor, and others. It begins with differential and integral calculus, leads you through the intricacies of manifold theory, and concludes with discussions on algebraic topol

This invaluable book, based on the many years of teaching experience of both authors, introduces the reader to the basic ideas in differential topology. Among the topics covered are smooth manifolds and maps, the structure of the tangent bundle and its associates, the calculation of real cohomology groups using differential forms (de Rham theory), and applications such as the Poincaré-Hopf theorem relating the Euler number of a manifold and the index of a vector field. Each chapter contains exercises of varying difficulty for which solutions are provided. Special features include examples drawn from geometric manifolds in dimension 3 and Brieskorn varieties in dimensions 5 and 7, as well as detailed calculations for the cohomology groups of spheres and tori.

Manifolds play an important role in topology, geometry, complex analysis, algebra, and classical mechanics. Learning manifolds differs from most other introductory mathematics in that the subject matter is often completely unfamiliar. This introduction guides readers by explaining the roles manifolds play in diverse branches of mathematics and physics. The book begins with the basics of general topology and gently moves to manifolds, the fundamental group, and covering spaces.