Path Connectedness
A path from a point x to a point y in a topological space X is a continuous function f from the unit interval to X with f(0) = x and f(1) = y. A path-component of X is an equivalence class of X under the equivalence relation which makes x equivalent to y if there is a path from x to y. The space X is said to be path-connected (or pathwise connected or 0-connected) if there is at most one path-component, i.e. if there is a path joining any two points in X. Again, many others exclude the empty space.
Every path-connected space is connected. The converse is not always true: examples of connected spaces that are not path-connected include the extended long line L* and the topologist's sine curve.
However, subsets of the real line R are connected if and only if they are path-connected; these subsets are the intervals of R. Also, open subsets of Rn or Cn are connected if and only if they are path-connected. Additionally, connectedness and path-connectedness are the same for finite topological spaces.
Read more about this topic: Connected Space
Famous quotes containing the word path:
“If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap, than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)