ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Loop space

Imagine you are walking around your house in circles. Each time you complete a lap, you remember where you started and you keep walking around again and again. You are creating a loop!

Now imagine doing this with more complicated shapes or in different directions, like a figure-eight or a spiral. Each time you complete the loop, you remember where you started and keep going around again and again.

In math, we can create a loop space which is like a map of all the possible loops that we could make with our shapes and directions. We use something called a topological space to help us imagine all the loops that are possible.

Loop spaces are important in some areas of math, like algebraic topology, because they can help us understand the properties of shapes and spaces by looking at the loops they create. It's like a way to take a closer look at the details of the loops we make and see how they fit together.