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From where does it derive its meaning:

1) Topography, as in region, geography etc.

OR

2) From one of its mathematical meanings: the set of all open subsets of a topological space(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/topology)

Thanks, Chris. P.S: Please do not mention the meaning related to computer science from the dictionary as that is what I am trying to figure out here.

ChrisOdney
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    This question appears to be off-topic because it is about word origin, not programming. – Wooble Aug 11 '14 at 10:48
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    It about the origin of the word related to computer science hence cannot be asked in a English forum. – ChrisOdney Aug 11 '14 at 10:54
  • There is a CS stackexchange site for questions about CS. Stack Overflow is strictly for questions about programming. – Wooble Aug 11 '14 at 10:56
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    This question is posed and answered [on the math stackexchange](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/113288/etymology-of-topological-sorting) and [on the cstheory stackexchange](https://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/30659/why-is-topological-sorting-topological). – Dan Fabulich Aug 23 '17 at 23:06

1 Answers1

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Probably first use of term "Topological sorting" is from Kahn, Arthur B. (1962), "Topological sorting of large networks". Term "Topological sorting" derives from "topological ordering", which is defined in this article:

A list in topological order has a special property. Simply expressed: proceeding from element to element along any path in the network, one passes through the list in one direction only

So it would be "topological" in mathematical meaning, but not strictly the one you mentioned. It would be "topological" rather in the sense of Topological Graph Theory

Kao
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  • Thanks kao. So Mathematically topological means "ordered" or something on those lines? – ChrisOdney Aug 11 '14 at 10:56
  • @ChrisOdney I wouldn't say so. Topology is a large branch of mathematics, it's not about ordering only. "Topological order" means "order in the terms of Topology" – Kao Aug 11 '14 at 11:02
  • When you say "in terms of topology" what is the meaning of topology there? – ChrisOdney Aug 11 '14 at 11:04
  • It means all what topology is about: sets of points, and relationships between them. – Kao Aug 11 '14 at 11:10