Subject: query From: James Stasheff Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 08:44:37 -0500 (EST) To: dmd1@lehigh.edu Query: Is the following ( or something similar) a therem inthe literature? note I am old enough to write M - N for the complement of N \subset M instead of the (expletive delted) M\N Let M be a smooth manifold of dim m N a closed submanifold with components N_i of dims n_i If P is a compact smooth manifold of dim k with non-trivial boundary and f : P --> M with \partial P --> M-N then f can be deformed off N keeping \partial P fixed ?? thanks jim Jim Stasheff jds@math.upenn.edu Home page: www.math.unc.edu/Faculty/jds As of July 1, 2002, I am Professor Emeritus at UNC and I will be visiting U Penn but for hard copy the relevant address is: 146 Woodland Dr Lansdale PA 19446 (215)822-6707