COMBINATORIALITY

COMBINATORIALITY (1950s). In general topology the concept of combinatoriality applies to the functional congruence of geometrical figures of the same order of continuity. Thus a square can be brought into topological congruence with a circle because all the points of the former are in an enumerable correspondence of the other. On the other hand, the geometry of the figure 8 cannot be made congruent with a square or a circle without cutting. The American composer and theorist Milton Babbitt…