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john mangual
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Are all Hawaiian Earrings the Same?

The Hawaiian Earring is usually constructed as the union of circles of radius 1/n centered at (0,1/n): $\bigcup_1^\infty \left[ (0, \frac{1}{n}) + \frac{1}{n}S^1 \right]$. However, nothing stops us from using the sequence of radii $1/n^2$ or any other sequence of numbers $a_n$.

I will call a Hawaiian Earring for a sequence (of distinct real numbers), A = {an}, the union of circles of radius an centered at (0, an). Let the union inherit its topological structure from R2. Are all of these spaces homeomorphic?

If an is a monotone decreasing sequence converging to 0, is its Hawaiian Earring homeomorphic to that of the sequence {1/n}?

john mangual
  • 22.8k
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  • 172