Paper 2, Section II, G

Geometry | Part IB, 2012

Let SS be a closed surface, equipped with a triangulation. Define the Euler characteristic χ(S)\chi(S) of SS. How does χ(S)\chi(S) depend on the triangulation?

Let V,EV, E and FF denote the number of vertices, edges and faces of the triangulation. Show that 2E=3F2 E=3 F.

Suppose now the triangulation is tidy, meaning that it has the property that no two vertices are joined by more than one edge. Deduce that VV satisfies

V7+4924χ(S)2.V \geqslant \frac{7+\sqrt{49-24 \chi(S)}}{2} .

Hence compute the minimal number of vertices of a tidy triangulation of the real projective plane. [Hint: it may be helpful to consider the icosahedron as a triangulation of the sphere S2.]\left.S^{2} .\right]

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