ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Topological manifold

Imagine you're playing with play dough and you try to stretch it out into a ball shape. But instead of making it smooth like a bouncy ball, you decided to create it with bumps and valleys all over it. This is kind of like a topological manifold.

A topological manifold is a flexible, bumpy shape that stretches smoothly in all directions. It's a bit like a shape that has hills and valleys, but it doesn't have any sharp corners or edges that suddenly stop you from stretching it.

Think of it like a map of a country, where the hills and valleys represent the different kinds of land, like mountains and valleys. A topological manifold is like a map that you can fold and stretch in any direction without tearing or creating discontinuities.

Topological manifolds are important in mathematics because they help us understand how spaces behave and how objects in those spaces can be moved around. They also have many applications in physics, computer graphics, and other fields.