ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Thom–Mather stratified space

Okay kiddo, so have you ever heard of a map? Not like a treasure map, but a map that shows you where things are in a town or city?

Well, imagine if that map was made up of lots and lots of different layers. Like, one layer for all the buildings, another layer for all the parks, and another layer for all the roads. Each layer would have its own information and you could choose which ones you wanted to look at.

A thom-mather stratified space is kind of like that, but for math. It's a way for mathematicians to break down a space into different layers, or "strata", based on certain rules. Each layer will have its own set of properties, just like each layer of a map has its own set of information.

This can be really helpful for studying complicated shapes or spaces, because it allows mathematicians to break them down into smaller, more manageable parts. It's kind of like taking a big puzzle and breaking it into smaller pieces.

So that's a thom-mather stratified space! It's a way for mathematicians to understand and study complicated shapes and spaces by breaking them down into smaller, more understandable parts.