Definition of "topology" [to•pol•o•gy]

• Topographic study of a given place, especially the history of a region as indicated by its topography. (noun)
• Medicine The anatomical structure of a specific area or part of the body. (noun)
• Mathematics The study of the properties of geometric figures or solids that are not changed by homeomorphisms, such as stretching or bending. Donuts and picture frames are topologically equivalent, for example. (noun)
• Computer Science The arrangement in which the nodes of a LAN are connected to each other. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Network Topologies: - The term topology refers to way network is laid out, either physically or logically."
• "Algebraic topology is behind network theory which is used, among other things, to route circuits on CPUs."
• "A specialist in topology, he authored Grassmannians and Gauss Maps in Piecewise-Linear Topology (Springer-Verlag, 1987), but he was better known to the general public for his critiques of pseudoscience and obscurantism, including Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994), coauthored with Paul R."