In topology, especially algebraic topology, the cone CX of a topological space X is the quotient space:

of the product of X with the unit interval I = [0, 1]. Intuitively we make X into a cylinder and collapse one end of the cylinder to a point.

If X sits inside Euclidean space, the cone on X is homeomorphic to the union of lines from X to another point. That is, the topological cone agrees with the geometric cone when defined. However, the topological cone construction is more general.

Examples

• The cone over a point p of the real line is the interval {p} x [0,1].
• The cone over two points {0,1} is a "V" shape with endpoints at {0} and {1}.
• The cone over an interval I of the real line is a triangle.
• The cone over a polygon P is a pyramid with base P.
• The cone over a circle inspired the name; CS¹ is homeomorphic to the geometric cone (technically only a half-cone):

This in turn is homeomorphic to the closed disc.

• In general, the cone over an n-sphere is homeomorphic to the closed (n+1)-ball.
• The cone over an n-simplex is an (n+1)-simplex.

Properties

All cones are path-connected since every point can be connected to the vertex point. Furthermore, every cone is contractible to the vertex point by the homotopy

h_t(x,s) = (x, (1−t)s).

The cone is used in algebraic topology precisely because it embeds a space as a subspace of a contractible space.

See also

• cone
• suspension (topology)
• mapping cone
• join (topology)