D EPARTMENT OF M ATHEMATICAL S CIENCES , KAIST

A LGEBRAIC T OPOLOGY (MAS531)

Homework 2
Duong Q. Dinh - 20121095
April 18, 2016

Problems are taken from Bredons Topology and Geometry, chapter 3.

Problem 1, 3.2 Let G be a topological group with unity element e. For loops f , g : (Sl , ) (G, e) define a
loop f g (t ) = f (t )g (t ) by the pointwise product in G. Show that f g ' f g rel.
Solution.

The sides of the square in the figure above represents f (t = x) and g (t = y), and a point (x, y) in the squares
interior represents f (x)g (y). The diagonal of the square then represents f (t )g (t ) = f g (t ), and the bottom
side concatenating with the right side represents f g (t ). By the continuity of multiplication, we have a
well-defined homotopy transforming f g to f g by the diagram above.
Problem 2, 3.2 Let G be a topological group with unity element e. Show that 1 (G, e) is abelian. (Hint: Use
Problem 1 and the idea of Problem 1 to show that f g ' g f .)
Solution. Similarly, we can show f g ' g f (figure below). Then f g ' g f , i.e. [ f ][g ] = [g ][ f ] for any

loops f , g , i.e. G is abelian.

1

Problem 3, 3.2 If K2 is Klein bottle, show that 1 (K2 ) is generated by two elements, say and obtained
from the "longitudinal" and "latitudinal" loops. Also show that there is the relation (with proper assignment
of and ) 1 = 1 . (You are not asked to show that this is the "only" relation, but, in fact, it is.) (Hint:
Use the fact that a smooth loop must miss a point.)
Solution. We need to show that any loop on K2 can be constructed by concatenating some "longitudinal"
loops and "latitudinal" loops. The construction of K2 as a quotient space of a rectangle R (with based point
x 0 ) is illustrated in the figure below. Since R is compact, by corollary 11.9 in the textbook, any (continuous)
loop f on R is homotopic to a smooth loop f 0 based at x 0 (if the smooth loop is not based at x 0 , "conjugate"
it with a smooth path from x 0 to its based point to obtain f 0 ). By Sards theorem for one-dimensional
domain, f 0 necessarily misses some point (other than the based point). Let p f be such a point. As K2 \ {p f }
deformation retracts into S2 S1 , f also homotopically becomes a loop on S2 S1 .

Choose x 1 as the based point for S2 S1 . Let , 1 (S2 S1 ) be the homotopy classes of loops based at
x 1 that wrap around the left circle once and the right circle once, respectively; and then coincide with
the homotopy classes of the "longitudinal" and "latitudinal" loops on K2 . Any loop based at x 1 on the left
circle is clearly homotopic to a loop wrapping around the left circle some n times, and so is a representative
of n ; the same goes for the right circle and . A loop on S2 S1 based at x 1 is composed of loops based
at x 1 on the left circle and the right circle, so its homotopy class can be generated from and ; thus the
homotopy class of any loop f on K2 can be generated from and . The relation 1 = 1 is obvious
from the figure above.

Problem 2, 3.3 Show that the fundamental group of the projective plane is the unique group Z2 of two
elements.
Solution. We only need to show that if [ f ] is a nontrivial element of 1 (P2 , x 0 ), then 2[ f ] = e. Let f : I P2
be the representative loop based at x 0 of such nontrivial element, and its lift f starting at y S2 . Then f either ends at y or y. If f ends at y, then it is a loop. Since S2 is simply connected, this loop is homotopically
trivial, and so [ f ] = p # ([ f]) = e, contradict with our assumption. Therefore f ends at y. Thus f f lifts to
a path ending at y, and thus is a homotopically trivial loop g . Then 2[ f ] = [ f f ] = p # ([g ]) = e

Problem 3, 3.3 Compute the fundamental group of an n-dimensional torus (a product of n circles).
Solution. The n-torus nS1 can be constructed as the quotient space Rn / under the equivalence relation
2

(x 1 , ..., x j , ..., x n ) (x 1 , ..., x j + 1, ..., x n ) for all 1 j n. Note that the canonical projection p : Rn nS1 with
p(0) = 1 1 ... 1 nS1 is also a covering map, and can be regarded as the product of n covering maps
R S2 , r 7 e 2i r .
Define the "degree" function Deg: 1 (nS1 ) nZ using path lifting property in the same way as deg :
1 (S1 ) Z is defined. Since each loop in nS1 can be regarded as a product of n loops i in S1 , with
its lift in Rn regarded as a product of n paths i in R, we have no difficulty in generalizing the proof of
Corollary 3.10 to n dimensions. Thus Deg is a isomorphism.

Problem 4, 3.3 Use the covering of the figure eight in example (5) to show that the fundamental group of
the figure eight is not abelian. (Hint: Consider liftings of loops representing and , for appropriate
classes and .)
Solution.

Let and be the homotopy classes of loops based at x 0 that wrap around the left circle once and the right
circle once, respectively - the wrapping direction is illustrated in the figure above, and f and g be loops
representing and , respectively. Let f and g be liftings of f and g on the three-fold covering of the
figure eight, such that f(0) = g (0) as in the figure. Suppose = , i.e. f ' g . By corollary 3.5, f(1) = g (1),
clearly contradict with the figure. So the fundamental group of the figure eight is not abelian.
Problem 1, 3.4 Show that n (Pm ) is trivial for 1 < n < m.
Solution. Since Sn , n > 1, is simply connected, the lifting lemma states that any map f : Sn Pm has a lift
f : Sn Sm . Since n < m, f is homotopically trivial, so f = p f is homotopically trivial.

Problem 2, 3.4 Show that any map of the projective plane to the circle is homotopic to a constant map.
Solution. Given any map f : P2 S1 , we can compose it with the canonical projection (also the covering
map) : S2 P2 to obtain a map f : S2 S1 . By corollary 4.3 in the textbook, f is homotopically
trivial. Then we can deformation retract the image of f , which is also the image of f , onto a point. Thus
f is homotopically trivial.

Problem 3, 3.4 Complete the proof of Corollary 4.5.

Solution. The map g : W1 W2 is constructed as the lifting of p 1 : W1 Y such that g (w 1 ) = w 2 . To
prove g is a covering map, we only need to show any w W2 has a path connected neighbourhood U such
that g 1 (w) is a nonempty disjoint union of sets U , with each U being a path component of g 1 (w) and
g |U : U U is a homeomorphism.
Let y = p 2 (w), and let V1 , V2 be evenly covered by p 1 , p 2 respectively. Then V := V1 V2 is evenly covered
by both p 1 and p 2 . Let U be the path component of p 21 (V ) that contains w. Then g 1 (U ), being a subset
of p 11 (V ) = g 1 p 21 (V ), can be written as a nonempty disjoint union of sets U , with each U being a
path component of g 1 (U ). Since p 1 |U = p 2 g |U is homeomorphic and p 2 is homeomorphic, g |U is
homeomorphic.

Problem 1, 3.5 Show that any map of the projective plane to itself which is nontrivial on the fundamental
group can be lifted to a map T : S2 S2 such that T (x) = T (x) for all x S2 .
Solution. Let : I P2 be a loop such that [] 6= e 1 (P2 ). Then using the same argument as in problem
= x implies (1)
= x.
2, 3.3, lifts to a path : I S2 such that for all x S2 , (0)
Let f : P2 P2 be a map that is nontrivial on the fundamental group, and f 0 = f where : S2 P2 is
is a representative
the canonical projection (clearly f 0 (x) = f 0 (x)). By definition of f , f , and thus f 0 ,
loop of the nontrivial homotopy class of 1 (P2 ). The lift T : S2 S2 of f 0 lifts the loop f 0 into a path T 0 .
By the same argument as in problem 2, 3.3 again, T 0 (0) = T 0 (1), or T (x) = T (x) for all x S2 .
Problem 2, 3.5 Show that a map f : S1 S1 of degree 1 is homotopic to the identity. (Hint: If : R1 S1 is
the exponential map, consider the lift of f to a map R1 R1 .)
Solution.

All maps are defined by the commutative diagram above ( is a loop in particular). As 1 (S1 ) = Z, the degree
= n. Since deg:
one map f induces the isomorphism f # : 1 (S1 ) 1 (S1 ). Thus if [] = n, then [ f ] = [g ]
H

= n whenever (1)
= n. Then g ' idR by a homotopy
1 (S1 ) Z R is an isomorphism, this implies g (1)
H

H (x, t ) = x + (g (x) x)t for all x R, t I; H . Then f = g ' ; the fact f ' idS1 now is obvious.