Playing with Shape and Form: A Glimpse of Topology

Explore the captivating realm of topology, a discipline that examines the enduring characteristics of shapes through smooth transformations. With playful illustrations and vivid examples, this introduction reimagines classic topics from topology and graph theory in a way that welcomes even those new to mathematics. Topology is the field of mathematics that studies those properties of a shape which persist when the shape gently evolves and changes its specific form. This book gives a playful and intuitive introduction to topology, favoring simple and crisp illustrations over long explanations and formal definitions. The material includes some of the classic results one would see in undergraduate courses on topology and graph theory, but presents these results in a way that readers without any knowledge of mathematics will be able to understand.