Topologically stratified space

In topology, a branch of mathematics, a topologically stratified space is a space "X" that has been decomposed into pieces called strata; these strata are manifolds and are required to fit together in a certain way. Topologically stratified spaces provide a purely topological setting for the study of singularities analogous to the more differential-geometric theory of Whitney. They were introduced by René Thom, who showed that every Whitney stratified space was also a topologically stratified space, with the same strata. Another proof was given by John Mather in 1970, inspired by Thom's proof.
Basic examples of stratified spaces include manifolds with boundary (top dimension and codimension 1 boundary) and manifolds with corners (top dimension, codimension 1 boundary, codimension 2 corners).
Definition.
The definition is inductive on the dimension of "X". An "n"-dimensional topological stratification of "X" is a filtration
of "X" by closed subspaces such that for each "i" and for each point "x" of 
there exists a neighborhood 
of "x" in "X", a compact ("n" - "i" - 1)-dimensional stratified space "L", and a filtration-preserving homeomorphism 
Here formula_5 is the open cone on "L". 
If "X" is a topologically stratified space, the "i"-dimensional stratum of "X" is the space 
Connected components of "Xi \ Xi-1" are also frequently called strata.
Examples.
One of the original motivations for stratified spaces were decomposing singular spaces into smooth chunks. For example, given a singular variety formula_7, there is a naturally defined subvariety, formula_8, which is the singular locus. This may not be a smooth variety, so taking the iterated singularity locus formula_9will eventually give a natural stratification. A simple algebreogeometric example is the singular hypersurfaceformula_10where formula_11 is the prime spectrum.