Introduction to Topology

Exercises III

November 2012

Section A
1. Propoisition 3.1.5 in the Lecture Notes says that any loop in S 1 based at 1 is epph to one of
the loops pn (t) = exp(nt).
(i) What is the correct statement if p is a loop in S 1 not necessarily based at 1?
(ii) Prove this statement.
2. Suppose that f1 : S 1 S 1 is continuous, and suppose that f1 is homotopic to a constant map
f0 . Show that f1 extends to a continuous map D S 1 , where D is the closed unit disc. Hint: Let
F (t, u) be a homotopy from f0 to f1 . Let Su1 be the circle of radius u for u [0, 1] (of course when
u = 0 the circle is just a point). D is made up of these circles; use the homotopy F to define the
extension of f1 on Su1 .
3. Suppose that f0 : S 1 S 1 has closed degree n. Show that f is homotopic to the map z 7 z n .
Hint: By definition of closed degree, deg(f exp) = n.
4. Show that if X Y is a deformation-retract of Y then the inclusion X , Y is a homotopyequivalence.
5. What graph does R2 r{p1 , . . ., pn } deformation-retract to? What about R3 r{p1 , p2 }?
Section B
6. Show that if f : S 1 S 1 has closed degree 0 then f extends to a continuous map D S 1 .
7. Suppose that f : S 1 S 1 has closed degree n, and for simplicity suppose that f (1) = 1. Since
deg : 1 (S 1 , 1) Z is an isomorphism, the homomorphism f : 1 (S 1 , 1) 1 (S 1 , 1) gives rise to
a homomorphism Z Z, indicated with a question mark in the diagram below.
1 (S 1 , 1)
deg

/ 1 (S 1 , 1)


deg

/Z

What is this homomorphism?

8. Suppose that f and g are continuous maps S 1 S 1 . Show that
(a) deg(f g) = deg(f )deg(g).
(b) deg(f g) = deg(f ) + deg(g), where f g is defined by (f g)(z) = f (z)g(z).
9. What graph does R P2 r{p} deformation-retract to? Hint: Use the description of R P2 as a
quotient of a square, as in Chapter 2 Example 5 in the Lecture Notes.
10. In a lecture I constructed a deformation-retraction of T r {p} to a union of two circles, by
defining a deformation-retraction F of S r {p} to its boundary S, and showing that F passed to
the quotient to define a deformation retraction F : (T r {p}) [0, 1] T r {p}.
1

r(x)
x
S

The picture shows how F is defined: r(x) is the point where the line from p through x meets
S, and F (x, u) = (1 u)x + ur(x). The dashed lines show the trajectories of the points of S r {p}
as they slide out toward S as u varies from 0 to 1.
To do: On a drawing, show the trajectories of the points of T under the deformation retraction
F . Pay careful attention to the trajectories near the point c shown.
Section C
10. Let [S 1 , S 1 ] denote the set of homotopy classes of continuous maps S 1 S 1 . Show that the
binary operations and make [S 1 , S 1 ] into a commutative ring with unit.
11. This exercise shows that the winding number of a differentiable loop p in C with respect to a
point z0 (Section 3.4 in the Lecture Notes) can be computed as a complex line integral:
Z
dz
1
(0.1)
Wp (z0 ) =
2i p z z0
By definition
Z
p

dz
=
z z0

Z
0

p0 (u)
dt,
p(u) z0

(0.2)

and
Wp (z0 ) = deg(pz0 ),
where pz0 is the loop defined by
pz0 (t) =

p(t) z0
.
kp(t) z0 k

Denote the real and imaginary parts of a complex number or function f by Ref and Imf ; thus
f = Ref + iImf .
The idea of the proof is to show that if we define
Z t
p0 (u)
`(t) =
dt,
(0.3)
0 p(u) z0
(so `(1) is the right hand side of (0.2)) then
the function Re(`/2i) is a lift of the loop pz0 , and Im(`(1)/2i) = 0.

(0.4)

(a) Easy case: Suppose that p(t) = z0 + re2nit , where r is a constant. Check that (0.4) holds.
(b) Show that (0.4) holds if p(t) has the form z0 + r(t)e2c(t)t .
(c) Show that every loop p can be written in the form just used. This completes the proof, of
course.
2

(d) Is there a more elegant proof?

12. (Hard, I think): Let X1 and X2 be two circles with one point, x0 , in common. Let p1 and
p2 be the usual generators of 1 (X1 , x0 ) and 1 (X2 , x0 ). To do: Give an elementary proof (not
involving van Kampens Theorem) that in 1 (X1 X2 , x0 ),
[p1 ] [p2 ] 6= [p2 ] [p1 ].