ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Rose (topology)

Okay kiddo, have you ever drawn a picture of a flower with petals all around it? Well, imagine if you could stretch and pull that flower so that the petals weren't all cramped together but instead spread out evenly. That's kind of like what a rose is in topology.

In math, topology is all about studying the shape and space of objects. A rose is a special kind of shape that is made up of lots of circles connected together at a point in the middle. Mathematicians call that point the "base point."

When we talk about a rose in topology, we're not just talking about the shape of the flower. We're also interested in how it's connected. You might have seen pictures of maps that show the streets and how they're all connected to each other. Topology is kind of like that, except we're looking at how different parts of the rose are connected to each other.

Now, here comes the tricky part. A rose in topology isn't just one simple shape. Instead it's made up of lots of different circles that are stuck together in a certain way. Mathematicians call this a "bouquet" because it looks like a bunch of flowers stuck together in a vase.

If you were to take a marker and trace your finger over the circles in a rose bouquet, you would notice something interesting. No matter where you start tracing and which circles you follow, you'll never get stuck or run into a dead end. That's because every part of the rose is connected to every other part in a continuous loop.

So, in summary, a rose in topology is kind of like a flower with lots of petals that are spread out and connected in a special way. Mathematicians study the shape and connectivity of roses in topology, and they call them bouquets because they're made up of lots of different circles all stuck together.
Related topics others have asked about: