Simplicial homology
In algebraic topology, simplicial homology is the sequence of homology groups of a simplicial complex. It formalizes the idea of the number of holes of a given dimension in the complex. This generalizes the number of connected components (the case of dimension 0). Simplicial homology arose as a way to study topological spaces whose building blocks are "n"-simplices, the "n"-dimensional analogs of triangles. This includes a point (0-simplex), a line segment (1-simplex), a triangle (2-simplex) and a tetrahedron (3-simplex). By definition, such a space is homeomorphic to a simplicial complex (more precisely, the geometric  realization of an abstract simplicial complex). Such a homeomorphism is referred to as a "triangulation" of the given space. Many topological spaces of interest can be triangulated, including every smooth manifold (Cairns and Whitehead). Simplicial homology is defined by a simple recipe for any abstract simplicial complex. It is a remarkable fact that simplicial homology only depends on the associated topological space. As a result, it gives a computable way to distinguish one space from another. Definitions. Orientations. A key concept in defining simplicial homology is the notion of an orientation of a simplex. By definition, an orientation of a  k-simplex is given by an ordering of the vertices, written as ("v"...,"v"), with the rule that two orderings define the same orientation if and only if they differ by an even permutation. Thus every simplex has exactly two orientations, and switching the order of two vertices changes an orientation to the opposite orientation. For example, choosing an orientation of a 1-simplex amounts to choosing one of the two possible directions, and choosing an orientation of a 2-simplex amounts to choosing what "counterclockwise" should mean. Chains. Let "S" be a simplicial complex. A simplicial "k"-chain is a finite  formal sum where each "c" is an integer and σ is an oriented "k"-simplex. In this definition, we declare that each oriented simplex is equal to the negative of the simplex with the opposite orientation. For example, The group of "k"-chains on "S" is written "C". This is a free abelian group which has a basis in one-to-one correspondence with the set of "k"-simplices in "S". To define a basis explicitly, one has to choose an orientation of each simplex. One standard way to do this is to choose an ordering of all the vertices and give each  simplex the orientation corresponding to the induced ordering of its vertices. Boundaries and cycles. Let σ = ("v"...,"v") be an oriented "k"-simplex, viewed as a basis element of "C". The boundary operator is the homomorphism defined by: where the oriented simplex is the "i" face of "σ", obtained by deleting its "i" vertex. In "C", elements of the subgroup are referred to as cycles, and the subgroup is said to consist of boundaries. Boundaries of boundaries. Because formula_8, where formula_9 is the "second" face removed, formula_10. In geometric terms, this says that the boundary of anything has no boundary . Equivalently, the abelian groups form a chain complex. Another equivalent statement is that "B" is contained in "Z". As an example, consider a tetrahedron with vertices oriented as w,x,y,z. By definition, its boundary is given by: xyz - wyz + wxz - wxy. The boundary of the boundary is given by: (yz-xz+xy)-(yz-wz+wy)+(xz-wz+wx)-(xy-wy+wx) = 0. Homology groups. The "k" homology group "H" of "S" is defined to be the quotient abelian group It follows that the homology group "H"("S") is nonzero exactly when there are "k"-cycles on "S" which are not boundaries. In a sense, this  means that there are "k"-dimensional holes in the complex. For example, consider the complex "S" obtained by gluing two triangles (with no interior) along one edge, shown in the image. The edges of each triangle can be oriented so as to form a cycle. These two cycles are by construction not boundaries (since every 2-chain is zero). One can compute that the homology group "H"("S") is isomorphic to Z, with a basis given by the two cycles mentioned. This makes precise the informal idea that "S" has two "1-dimensional holes". Holes can be of different dimensions. The rank  of the "k"th homology group, the number is called the "k"th Betti number of "S". It gives a measure of the number of "k"-dimensional holes in "S". Example. Homology groups of a triangle. Let "S" be a triangle (without its interior), viewed as a simplicial complex. Thus "S" has three vertices, which we call "v", "v", "v", and three edges, which are 1-dimensional simplices. To compute the homology groups of "S", we start by describing the chain groups "C": The boundary homomorphism ∂: "C" → "C" is given by: Since "C" = 0, every 0-chain is a cycle  (i.e. "Z" = "C"); moreover, the group "B" of the 0-boundaries is generated by the three elements on the right of these equations, creating a two-dimensional subgroup of "C". So the 0th homology group "H"("S") = "Z"/"B" is isomorphic to Z, with a basis given (for example) by the image of the 0-cycle ("v"). Indeed, all three vertices become equal in the quotient group; this expresses the fact that "S" is connected. Next, the group of 1-cycles is the kernel of the homomorphism ∂ above, which is isomorphic to Z, with a basis given (for example ) by ("v","v") − ("v","v") + ("v","v"). (A picture reveals that this 1-cycle goes around the triangle in one of the two possible directions.) Since "C" = 0, the group of 1-boundaries is zero, and so the 1st homology group "H"("S") is isomorphic to Z/0 ≅ Z. This makes precise the idea that the triangle has one 1-dimensional hole. Next, since by definition there are no 2-cycles, "C" = 0 (the trivial group). Therefore the 2nd homology group "H"("S") is zero. The same is true for "H"("S") for all "i" not equal to 0 or 1. Therefore , the homological connectivity of the triangle is 0 (it is the largest "k" for which the reduced homology groups up to "k" are trivial). Homology groups of higher-dimensional simplices. Let "S" be a tetrahedron (without its interior), viewed as a simplicial complex. Thus "S" has four 0-dimensional vertices, six 1-dimensional edges, and four 2-dimensional faces. The construction of the homology groups of a tetrahedron is described in detail here. It turns out that "H"("S") is isomorphic to Z, "H"("S") is isomorphic to Z too, and all other groups are trivial.Therefore, the homological connectivity of the  tetrahedron is 0. If the tetrahedron contains its interior, then "H"("S") is trivial too. In general, if "S" is a "d"-dimensional simplex, the following holds: Simplicial maps. Let "S" and "T" be simplicial complexes. A simplicial map "f" from "S" to "T" is a function from the vertex set of "S" to the vertex set of "T" such that the image of each simplex in "S" (viewed as a set of vertices) is a simplex in "T". A simplicial map "f": "S" → "T" determines a homomorphism of homology groups "H"("S") → "H"("T") for each integer "k". This is the  homomorphism associated to a chain map from the chain complex of "S" to the chain complex of "T". Explicitly, this chain map is given on "k"-chains by if "f"("v"), ..., "f"("v") are all distinct, and otherwise "f"(("v", ..., "v")) = 0. This construction makes simplicial homology a functor from simplicial complexes to abelian groups. This is essential to applications of the theory, including the Brouwer fixed point theorem and the topological invariance of simplicial homology. Related homologies. Singular homology is a related theory which is better adapted to theory rather than computation. Singular homology is defined for all topological spaces and depends  only on the topology, not any triangulation; and it agrees with simplicial homology for spaces which can be triangulated. Nonetheless, because it is possible to compute the simplicial homology of a simplicial complex automatically and efficiently, simplicial homology has become important for application to real-life situations, such as image analysis, medical imaging, and data analysis in general. Another related theory is Cellular homology. Applications. A standard scenario in many computer applications is a collection of points (measurements, dark pixels in a bit map, etc.) in which one wishes to find a topological feature. Homology can serve as a qualitative  tool to search for such a feature, since it is readily computable from combinatorial data such as a simplicial complex. However, the data points have to first be triangulated, meaning one replaces the data with a simplicial complex approximation. Computation of persistent homology involves analysis of homology at different resolutions, registering homology classes (holes) that persist as the resolution is changed. Such features can be used to detect structures of molecules, tumors in X-rays, and cluster structures in complex data. More generally, simplicial homology plays a central role in topological data analysis, a technique in the field of data  mining.