deformation retract

In topology, a 'deformation retract' describes a specific way to continuously transform a space into one of its subspaces.

🇺🇸 US Voice:

🇬🇧 UK Voice:

Definition

(technical, academic)A process where a space is continuously shrunk into a subspace, while keeping the points in the subspace fixed.

The circle is a deformation retract of the plane with a hole in the center.
The deformation retract helps in simplifying the study of topological spaces by reducing dimensions.

Terms that have similar or relatively close meanings to "deformation retract":