fundamental group


fundamental group

[¦fən·də¦ment·əl ′grüp] (communications) In wire communications, a group of trunks that connect each local or trunk switching center to a trunk switching center of higher rank on which it homes; the term also applies to groups that interconnect zone centers. (mathematics) For a topological space, the group of homotopy classes of all closed paths about a point in the space; this group yields information about the number and type of “holes” in a surface.