Subject:
Why "spectral" sequence?
From:
"Martin C. Tangora" <tangora@uic.edu>
Date:
Thu, 10 Feb 2005 16:36:00 -0600
To:
Don Davis <dmd1@lehigh.edu>

For the topology list:

Why is it called a "spectral" sequence?

I always assumed -- just on the face of it --
that it was because the idea is to take a differential
and break it up into its components,
just as a prism breaks white light into the spectrum.

Does anyone know who invented the term,
and whether my guess is correct?

Martin C. Tangora
University of Illinois at Chicago
tangora@uic.edu