Homology and Homological Algebra, D. Chan
HOMOLOGY AND HOMOLOGICAL ALGEBRA, D. CHAN 1. Simplicial complexes Motivating question for algebraic topology: how to tell apart two topological spaces? One possible solution is to find distinguishing features, or invariants. These will be homology groups. How do we build topological spaces and record on computer (that is, finite set of data)? N Definition 1.1. Let a0, . , an ∈ R . The span of a0, . , an is ( n ) X a0 . an := λiai | λi > 0, λ1 + ... + λn = 1 i=0 = convex hull of {a0, . , an}. The points a0, . , an are geometrically independent if a1 − a0, . , an − a0 is a linearly independent set over R. Note that this is independent of the order of a0, . , an. In this case, we say that the simplex Pn a0 . an is n -dimensional, or an n -simplex. Given a point i=1 λiai belonging to an n-simplex, we say it has barycentric coordinates (λ0, . , λn). One can use geometric independence to show that this is well defined. A (proper) face of a simplex σ = a0 . an is a simplex spanned by a (proper) subset of {a0, . , an}. Example 1.2. (1) A 1-simplex, a0a1, is a line segment, a 2-simplex, a0a1a2, is a triangle, a 3-simplex, a0a1a2a3 is a tetrahedron, etc. (2) The points a0, a1, a2 are geometrically independent if they are distinct and not collinear. (3) Midpoint of a0a1 has barycentric coordinates (1/2, 1/2). (4) Let a0 . a3 be a 3-simplex, then the proper faces are the simplexes ai1 ai2 ai3 , ai4 ai5 , ai6 where 0 6 i1, .
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