Talk:Quotient space

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can anyone tell me why its called "quotient"?

[edit] im f homeomorphic to X/~

I made a correction there--if f is not an open map, there is a continuous bijection from X/~ to im f, but it is not a homeomorphism.--Todd 15:07, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

You're right in thinking that a homeomorphism needs to be an open map. However, in the text the topology of Y is defined as the finest topology that makes f continuous: V is open in Y if and only if it's preimage under f is open in X. A topology on Y wasn't assumed; it was constructed. Originally, Y was only assumed to be a set. The construction not only makes f continuous, it also makes it open. I think the original text was right so unless I hear back from you soon, I'm going to change the article back. (Perhaps I'll try to clarify this point.) Lunch 18:38, 19 July 2006 (UTC)