Definition:Concatenation (Topology)

Definition
Let $X$ be a topological space.

Let $c_1, c_2: \left[{0. . 1}\right]^n \to X$ be maps.

Let $c_1$ and $c_2$ both satisfy the concatenation criteria $c \left({\partial \left[{0 . . 1}\right]^n}\right) = x_0$.

Then the concatenation $c_1 * c_2$ is defined as:
 * $\left({c_1 * c_2}\right) \left({t_1, t_2, \ldots, t_n}\right) = \begin{cases}

c_1 \left({2t_1, t_2, \ldots, t_n}\right) & : t_1 \in \left[{0. . 1/2}\right] \\ c_2 \left({2t_1-1, t_2, \ldots, t_n}\right) & : t_1 \in \left[{1/2. . 1}\right] \end{cases} $

where $\left({t_1, \ldots, t_n}\right)$ are coordinates in the n-cube.

By Continuous Mapping on Finite Union of Closed Sets, $c_1*c_2$ is continuous.

This resulting map is continuous, since:
 * $2 \left({\dfrac 1 2}\right) = 1$ and $2 \left({\dfrac 1 2}\right) - 1 = 0$;
 * anywhere any coordinate of $\hat t$ is either $1$ or $0$, $\left({c_1*c_2}\right) \left({\hat t}\right) = x_0$.

The resulting map also clearly satisfies the concatenation criteria itself.

Also see

 * Definition:Homotopy Group

Special cases

 * Definition:Composition of Paths