The upper topology and its relation with the projective modules

In this paper, first we obtain some new and interesting results on projective modules and on the upper topology of an ordinal number. Then it is shown that the rank map of a locally of finite type projective module is continuous with respect to the upper topology (by contract, it is well known this map is not necessarily continuous with respect to the discrete topology). It is also proved that a finitely generated flat module is projective if and only if its rank map is continuous with respect to the upper topology.