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Topology: Shapes
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Topology is a branch of pure mathematics, related to Geometry. It unfortunately shares the name of an unrelated topic more commonly known as topography, that is, the study of the shape and nature of terrain (and sometimes more precisely, how it changes over time), but in our usage here, topology is not at all about terrain.
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Topology began with the discovery of imaginary planets. See that article for an introduction to them. Topology is mainly interested in the shapes of these planets. For instance, many of them are not spherical, as one might expect. Usually, they are long, thin, and get stuck in your hair.
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Topology refers to the shape of a network, or the network's layout. How different nodes in a network are connected to each other and how they communicate are determined by the network's topology. Topologies are either physical or logical. Below are diagrams of the five most common network topologies.
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Topology can be considered as a virtual shape or structure of a network. This shape actually does not correspond to the actual physical design of the devices on the computer network. The computers on the home network can be arranged in a circle shape but it does not necessarily mean that it presents a ring topology.
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