OUT FROM OBSCURITY: Old math theories take on new life in engineering

摘要

Not long ago, algebraic topology was so abstract as to belong in "the stratosphere of human thought" or so Gleb Nerzhin mused in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The First Circle. Now, topologists, who study surfaces and relationships between proximate and global spaces, are mastering a growing number of real-world applications, from preventing drone collisions to guiding six-legged robots and managing vast amounts of sensor data.