Computing Connectedness: An exercise in computational topology

Nonlinearity 11 (1998) 913-922.

Abstract

We reformulate the notion of connectedness for compact metric spaces in a manner that may be implemented computationally. In particular, our techniques can distinguish between sets that are connected; have a finite number of connected components; have infinitely many connected components; or are totally disconnected. We hope that this approach will prove useful for studying structures in the phase space of dynamical systems.

AMS classification scheme numbers: 54D05, 58F13, 68U05.

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