Publisher's Synopsis
Geometric shape theory, as developed by Borsuk and others, exemplifies a process which is common in mathematical reasoning, using known information on the topology of polyhedra to obtain analogous information on arbitrary compact (metric) spaces. This book clarifies the different treatments of shape theory, treating the categorical form in depth for the first time. It treats geometric shape theory as a "case study" to illustrate and motivate general ideas relevant to any situation in which certain archetypal models are used as a basis for systems of approximations to more general objects, a situation occuring in many areas of mathematics.
