Topological properties in the context of Invariant (mathematics)

In topology and related areas of mathematics, a topological property or topological invariant is a property of a topological space that is invariant under homeomorphisms. Alternatively, a topological property is a proper class of topological spaces which is closed under homeomorphisms. That is, a property of spaces is a topological property if whenever a space X possesses that property every space homeomorphic to X possesses that property. Informally, a topological property is a property of the space that can be expressed using open sets.

A common problem in topology is to decide whether two topological spaces are homeomorphic or not. To prove that two spaces are not homeomorphic, it is sufficient to find a topological property which is not shared by them.