Basic concepts and results of real and complex algebraic geometry enter into play when dealing with the estimation of measures supported by algebraic varieties. Some geometric constraints on the supporting variety are inherited from the very beginning of the modelization, such as a sphere for estimating an orientation in space. Well-adapted results of multivariate pluripotential theory play a crucial role here.

Chapter 2 is an introduction to stratified spaces. We begin with filtered spaces and move progressively through more and more constrained classes, including manifold stratified spaces, locally cone-like spaces, the CS sets of Siebenmann, recursive CS sets, and topological and piecewise linear (PL) pseudomanifolds. To facilitate this last definition, we provide some background on PL topology. In the later sections of the chapter, we turn to some more specialized topics, including normalization of pseudomanifolds, pseudomanifolds with boundary, and other more specialized types of spaces, such as Whitney stratified spaces, Thom–Mather stratified spaces, and homotopically stratified spaces. We observe that the class of pseudomanifolds includes many spaces that arise naturally in other mathematical areas, such as singular varieties and orbit spaces of group actions. We also discuss stratified maps between stratified spaces and close with two specialized topics: intrinsic filtrations and products and joins of stratified spaces.