Аннотация:Abstract It is proved that if ƒ is a homeomorphism of the two-sphere with an invariant set V of cardinality N = 4, then either ƒ has periodic orbits of all periods or it belongs to one of a small number of algebraically finite isotopy classes relative to V . For N ≤ 4, the second case always holds. On the other hand, for each N ≥ 7 we give examples of pseudo-Anosov homeomorphisms of the sphere, relative to a set of N points, for which not all periods occur.
